The social dimension of participation and completion in MOOCs

Abstract

The rapid and impressive development of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in less than half a decade has brought about contrasting arguments about their social dimension. This paper investigates how the socio-economic background of learners affects their own experience and their chances of course completion. The analyses test whether learners from low socio-economic status (SES) have lower chances of completing the online course and whether participation in online discussion forums mediates the role of SES. Analyzing data from two MOOCs provided by Stanford University, we find that in both cases a negative association between low SES, course completion and course engagement is observed. Moreover, we find that forum participation has an ambiguous role, reinforcing the advantage of well-educated learners enrolled in one course, while does not have any significant effect for the other course. The paper concludes with some policy implications on social stratification in MOOCs and with some design suggestions for creators of MOOCs.