Evaluating Course Completion, Appropriateness, and Burden in the Understanding Multiple Sclerosis Massive Open Online Course: Cohort Study

Background: Massive open online course (MOOC) research is an emerging field; to date, most research in this area has focused on participant engagement.

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate both participant engagement and measures of satisfaction, appropriateness, and burden for a MOOC entitled Understanding Multiple Sclerosis (MS) among a cohort of 3518 international course participants.

Methods: We assessed the association of key outcomes with participant education level, MS status, caregiver status, sex, and age using summary statistics, and 2-tailed t tests, and chi-square tests.

Results: Of the 3518 study participants, 928 (26.37%) were people living with MS. Among the 2590 participants not living with MS, 862 (33.28%) identified as formal or informal caregivers. Our key findings were as follows: the course completion rate among study participants was 67.17% (2363/3518); the course was well received, with 96.97% (1502/1549) of participants satisfied, with an appropriate pitch and low burden (a mean of 2.2 hours engagement per week); people living with MS were less likely than those not living with MS to complete the course; and people with a recent diagnosis of MS, caregivers, and participants without a university education were more likely to apply the material by course completion.

Conclusions: The Understanding MS MOOC is fit for purpose; it presents information in a way that is readily understood by course participants and is applicable in their lives.