This paper investigates on MOOC, and analyzes issues in current Extension programs, addresses the attributes of MOOC for advancing Extension, and gives current MOOC programs and future directions. The findings continue to indicate that students motivation has a significant relationship with their participation in online discussion activities at time two and time three. Students perceived process, autonomy, competence, and relatedness have different levels of impact on their online discussion behavior. The motivation for participating in online discussions was self-reported three times throughout the semester. This discussion also found that students’ intrinsic motivation and their perceived value of online discussions remained at a moderate-high level over time, although the perceived value had a significant drop from the mid-point to the end of the semester.

MOOC technology, asynchronous online discussion, motivation, distance learning, collaborative learning