Vomit writing tasks to define and slowly refine my research paper for the last two units (EDX703/704) in my Masters.
Repeat learners or revisiting learners are learners who have self-identified as having completed more than one run of either of Monash’s mindfulness course on FutureLearn between 2016 and 2020. Results indicate that revisiting learners chose to return because the course enabled them to refresh and reinforce their skills and knowledge, stay motivated to maintain and grow a regular/ongoing meditation practice, feel supported in a community of like minded and enthusiastic people, and access and engage with new/course specific content. Further analysis of comments made by revisiting learners indicate their ongoing participation to be of significant benefit to their behaviour and emotional wellbeing. Revisiting learners seeking behavioural and emotional change is congruent with the ‘Flourisher’ and ‘Fixer’ archetype in the broad context area of ‘Personal Life’, which were identified by researchers from FutureLearn during their exploration of learners’ motivations for choosing to learn with them. According to FutureLearn, ‘Flourishers’ enjoy self-help learning in order to be happy and healthy in their personal and professional lives, while ‘Fixers’ learn in order to understand or manage aspects of their personal life.
Huang, Zhang and Liu (2017) identified vividness of course content as a quality that is positively associated with a learner’s intention to revisit. These findings support comments made by learners in Monash’s mindfulness courses as to why they say they revisit the course – to access and engage with new/course specific content. Revisiting learners also revealed in the comments that feeling supported in a community of like minded and enthusiastic people was another reason for their return, and as identified by Huang et al. (2017), teachers’ (lead educators and course mentor) subject knowledge and their interactivity (along with vividness of course content) were all positively associated with the intention to revisit.
When framed in the context of the ‘Flourisher’ and ‘Fixer’ archetypes and their needs, learners revisiting the course (as an ongoing experience) shouldn’t be surprising because these types of learners are motivated by the physical or mental health of themselves or people close to them, situations requiring practical life skills or major life changes such as bereavement, parenthood, retirement or redundancy. These learners are motivated to manage stress, be enriched, build self-esteem, help others or improve relationships. Another contributing factor that could explain why learners revisit could be that mindfulness is an open-ended skill that requires ongoing practise – learners continue to revisit because they feel the course has no natural limit to continuation and expansion (regardless of whether the course changes over time) Degree of Freedom (2013).
References
Huang, L., Zhang, J., Liu. (2017) Antecedents of student MOOC revisit intention: Moderation effect of course difficulty. International Journal of Information Management, 37(2), 84-91.
Degree of Freedom 2013, MOOC, Learn, Repeat?, retrieved 10 July 2020,
