E-Learning Engagement and Perceived Outcomes with Educational Key Opinion Leaders

Classroom teaching has undergone a digital transformation in the last decade and is now amplifiedby Educational Key Opinion Leaders (Edu-KOLs). Among the grassroots-level actors, Educational Key Opinion Leaders (Edu-KOLs) have influenced over 100 million students worldwide. Because the Edu-KOLs are not only domain experts in diverse knowledge fields but also have public recognition, followers, and celebrity-like status. Examples of Edu-KOLs include Eddie Woo, an Australian secondary school teacher and writer best known for his online mathematics lessons published on YouTube.

In 2018, Woo was awarded the Australia's Local Hero Award. He has over 1.8 million followers on YouTube, and his videos have been played over 163 million times since December 2023. Andrew Ng, the founder of Coursera, has taught 8 million people about Artificial Intelligence (AI) online, and 30% of unemployed learners were employed after completing their most recent course or program on Coursera. Edu-KOLs break the mould of STEM education and bring huge economic benefits to society. However, the research on Edu-KOLs remains largely unexplored.

This thesis set the first step towards researching on Edu-KOLs. We set the goal to investigate the relationship between learners’ perceived outcomes, motivation, and the selection preferences of Edu-KOLs. That is, we focus on the dynamic between learners and Edu-KOLs in different e-learning environments and platforms and focus on their interactions, satisfaction rating, and recommendation motivation on the selection preferences.

Firstly, we have divided learners into two cohorts based on their learning objectives and age group: children and adult learners. A two-phase study has been designed for data collection. Given that children are under 18, and their parents mainly decide to take online courses, the research subjects are therefore decided as such. During the study, we conducted research in the first phase through an online questionnaire completed by parents in China whose children are studying or have recently studied online and adult learners globally. In the second phase, we interviewed parents and adult learners to dive deep into the thinking process behind their choices of Edu-KOLs.

Secondly, this work presents insights gained from the two-phase study. By utilising the PLS-SEM model and mixed method, we have proposed and verified hypotheses around e-learning platforms, student engagement scores and perceived outcomes with the perception of Edu-KOLs. We also researched the relationships among Edu-KOLs, customer advocacy and future purchase intention, with the intention of unveiling the motivation and key drives for Edu-KOLs’recommendation.

Thirdly, we zoomed into college students and teachers, who are the dominant part of the adult learners, by investigating their learning and teaching activities specifically to gain direct insights on learning effectiveness in livestream teaching so that we investigate the acceptance of smart teaching tools for college and university students.

Finally, we compared the two cohorts to find similarities and differences surrounding Edu-KOLs’ engagement level and perceived outcome. To further provide context we investigated MOOC platform and WeChat Mini Program-based Cross-cultural learning activities and provide observation and analysis on the acceptance of smart teaching tools and its influencing factors.

The findings in this thesis suggest that the engagement level between learners and Edu-KOLs has a strong indication of perceived learning outcomes for both cohorts, and knowledgeable Edu-KOLs are the crucial decision point for the selection of e-learning platforms for both. However, the factors that influence the decision of which Edu-KOLs to follow or take the course with are different between the two cohorts.

The recommendations and conclusions that arise from this thesis can be further implemented to influence government education policy and pedagogy digitalisation in education systems. It also set the foundational cornerstone for educational technology to move forward post-COVID with the amplification of Edu-KOLs.