Citizen’s participation in MOOCs on cyber-security: a case of a government’s upskilling initiative

Abstract

Little has been done to establish the uptake of skills development and up-skilling initiatives that are being facilitated by the National Electronic Media Institute South Africa (NEMISA). Some of these initiatives are based on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) that brings in an interesting subject of navigating challenges of human computer interaction in the process of learning the subject matter. This study explores secondary data to establish the interest in participating in cybersecurity skills development by South African citizens. The study use data that was accessed from Coursera's MOOCs platform. This dataset was accessed through NEMISA. Study findings confirm that citizens do have an interest in enhancing skills with a particular bias towards enhancing information technology skills, cybersecurity skills included. However, descriptive statistics used to analyze the dataset suggest the numbers of students on enrolment, active participation, dropout, and course completion differ according to course. There are also findings that do not align with expectations. For instance, the data set shows a high dropout rate and inactivity on both courses that have been reported to be demanding and less demanding according to the literature. Findings in this study can be used to formulate future research and motivate a continued use of MOOCs in promoting skills development.