Turning MOOCS Around: Increasing Undergraduate Academic Performance by Reducing Test-Anxiety in a Flipped Classroom Setting

Institutions of higher education face the challenge of increasing the number of university graduates prepared for a competitive labor force at the same time that they reduce costs and generate more revenue. To increase class size without hiring more instructors, many universities have embraced technological aspects of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Yet, evaluations of MOOCs reveal high participant dropout rates due to a range of emotional issues not taken into account in the design and implementation of these courses. In response, universities have experimented with different applications of MOOC technology, such as small private online courses coined small private online classes (SPOCs). The purpose of this chapter is to show how the integration of a SPOC in a required finance course for undergraduates significantly reduced student test-anxiety and increased academic performance. Our findings have implications for other educators who want to effectively address student emotions when incorporating MOOC technologies in large on-campus courses.