The Effects of Information Format on Learners' Experience

Positive experience can increase the likelihood of revisiting Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) site. Our interest focuses on effects of presentation formats on learner's experience in MOOC. In two empirical studies, participants viewed online course webpages that either contained an image of the instructor or not. We examined effects of presentation format adding social cues on learner's attention, emotion and learning outcome using questionnaire and the physical evidence provided by an eye tracker. The results obtained allow us to conclude that the instructor's image positively affects visual attention and learner's emotion, especially perceived usefulness from emotion factor, and has changed learner's browsing behaviour. Moreover, the results reveal learner's cognition mechanism in MOOC learning. The results significantly contribute to efforts to design of MOOC webpages and also provide a valuable reference when selecting presentation format for online learning.