Learner engagement, retention and success: why size matters in massive open online courses (MOOCs)

Abstract

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are usually six to ten weeks long.Participation tends to decrease as the courses progress, leading to low completion rates. This led to the question: Could shorter MOOCs contribute to learners' engagement, retention and success? This paper compares two versions of Study Skills MOOC, which shared the same content but were delivered in different length formats. One was deployed as a single six-week course and the other as two three-week blocks. In total, 617 people registered for the two versions. Data sources included learning analytics, surveys and the Spanish version of the General Self-Efficacy Scale. Both versions of the Study Skills MOOC resulted in increased participants' self-efficacy. However, learners enrolled in the version composed of two three-week blocks were also more engaged with course content, other students and the facilitators. Their retention and completion rates were higher than those in the longer version of the course. Reasons linked to goal proximity, motivation, interactions and social modelling are discussed.

Words describing feelings about death: A comparison of sentiment for self and others and changes over time

“…A total of 13.8% completed at least 90% of all the activities in the MOOC. This 'funnel of participation' is a typical characteristic of MOOCs, where after enrolment there is a steep decline in active engagement (with less than half of those who enrol commencing any participation at all), and only a small proportion MOOC enrolees complete the MOOC (around 12-15%) [62][63][64].…”

“…This allowed a pre-post assessment of change in the sentiment of words describing death during exposure to the MOOC learning experience. Given the typical MOOC 'funnel of participation', the Dying2Learn MOOC-end retention rate for this final MOOC activity of interest in the current study can be considered above average in comparison to MOOCs in general [62][63][64].…”

“…Whilst this study was based on a large sample, several potential limitations require consideration. Like most MOOC samples, our sample is unlikely to be representative of the general population [62][63][64]. Participants were a self-selected sample of people in the community who chose to enrol in a course about death, and therefore may have been more likely to feel comfortable with the topic of death from the outset than people in the general population.…”

Attitude towards entrepreneurship development courses of MOOCs

“…Notwithstanding, the smooth operation and successful completion of any MOOCs are primarily dependent on the attitude of concerned parties (e.g. faculty members and students) (Aziz, 2018;Padilla Rodriguez et al, 2020;Zhou, 2016). This is also true for EDCM (Welsh and Dragusin, 2013).…”

Students' perceptions about the use of flipped classroom in the field of electronic electrical engineering

“…Flipped classroom is a pedagogical model that proposes the realization of school activities inside and outside the classroom (Desai, Jabeen, Abdul, & Rao, 2018;Oncel & Kara, 2019;Salas-Rueda, 2020). Information and Communication Technology (ICT) plays a fundamental role during the planning and organization of the courses (Galimullina, Ljubimova, & Ibatullin, 2020;McGowan, 2020;Padilla-Rodriguez, Armellini, & Rodriguez-Nieto, 2020). In fact, teachers create new activities before, during and after the face-to-face sessions through technological tools, educational platforms and web applications (Green & Schlairet, 2017;Rezaei & Latifi, 2020;Salas-Rueda, 2019).…”