Videos as learning objects in MOOCs: A study of specialist and non-specialist participants’ video activity in MOOCs Christian St € ohr, Natalia Stathakarou, Franziska Mueller, Sokratis Nifakos and Cormac McGrath Christian St € ohr is assistant professor at the Institute of Communication and Learning in Science (CLS) at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. He conducts research and capacity building on MOOCs, e-learning and blended learning in engineering education, but has also contributed to science and technology studies in environmental governance. Natalia Stathakarou is a project coordinator at Karolinska Institutet. Her research interest focuses on e-learning technologies in healthcare, with special emphasis on virtual patients and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). She has been a member of the KiX team, preparing the MOOC courses at the edX platform and has experience in integrating virtual patients in MOOCs. Franziska Mueller holds an MSc in Applied IT from Gothenburg University. Her interests include MOOCs and online learning in professional development. Sokratis Nifakos is a system developer at Karolinska Institutet. His areas of expertise are in architecture and software engineering, while his research interests include mobile learning. Cormac McGrath, PhD, is an academic developer at Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University. He designs, develops and conducts research into MOOCs. Address for correspondence: Christian St € ohr, Department for Communication and Learning in Science (CLS), Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden. Email: christian.stohr@chalmers.se Abstract Despite the emergence of massive open online courses (MOOCs) and the field of MOOC research, we have a limited understanding of the specific needs of different learner groups and how MOOCs can successfully address those needs. Video lectures and demonstrations are a central learning component of MOOCs. This paper contributes to the research community by examining the use of MOOC videos for two groups of learners. In particular, we explore whether there is an observable difference between specialists’ and non-specialists’ video-watching activity. We analyse data collected from three MOOCs on the edX platform. Our findings indicate that while age and educational background impacts the level of video activity, there is no significant difference between specialists and non-specialists. We conclude that the MOOC format may be suited to non-specialist groups, allowing them to self-direct their learning and utilise videos as educational resources. Introduction Massive open online courses (MOOCs) constitute a new force in higher education, promising to revolutionise but also disrupt traditional higher education (Ross, Sinclair, Knox, Bayne, & Macleod, 2014; Yuan, Powell, & Cetis, 2013). Since 2013, European higher education institu- tions are experiencing an increase in research and development concerning MOOCs as learning environments (Gaebel, 2014; Jansen & Schuwer, 2015). However, even though MOOCs offer the promise of open education resources (Czerniewicz, Deacon, Glover, & Walji, 2017; Freitas, Mor- gan, & Gibson, 2015), the transformative and previously promised revolutionary effects on higher education learning have not yet materialised (Eisenberg & Fischer, 2014; Siemens, 2015). For the majority of MOOC participants, watching video lectures is the primary activity (Kim et al., 2014; Sinha, Jermann, Li, & Dillenbourg, 2014). Thus, videos constitute an important aspect of the MOOC learning experience. Understanding how users interact with MOOC video content may V C 2018 British Educational Research Association British Journal of Educational Technology doi:10.1111/bjet.12623 Vol 50 No 1 2019 166–176