scholarly journals Factors for Success and Course Completion in Massive Open Online Courses through the Lens of Participant Types

Open Praxis ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 223
Author(s):  
Isa Bingol ◽  
Engin Kursun ◽  
Halil Kayaduman
Keyword(s):  
Course Design ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Participation Rate ◽  
Course Completion ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Personal Factors ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Technical Issues ◽  
Instructor Effectiveness

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the factors for success and course completion through the lens of participants in a Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) system implemented in Turkey. Thirty-two participants were selected on the basis of purposive sampling among 5000 enrolled users from 10 MOOCs, who were then classified into 3 types –lurking, moderately active, memorably active– based on their participation rate in the course activities. The data were collected via the use of two semi-structured interviews. According to the findings, the factors for success in MOOCs to the participants were divided into three categories: instructor effectiveness, course design, and personal factors. As to the factors for course completion, the categories identified were the instructor, course design, personal factors, technical issues, and affordability/clarity. The findings regarding success and course completion were discussed in detail and recommendations were provided to enhance participation in MOOCs.

scholarly journals How MOOC-Takers Estimate Learning Success: Retrospective Reflection of Perceived Benefits

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetlana Sablina ◽  
Natalia Kapliy ◽  
Alexandr Trusevich ◽  
Sofia Kostikova
Keyword(s):  
Text Analysis ◽  
Career Education ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Course Completion ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Learning Technology ◽  
Perceived Benefits ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Learning Success ◽  
New Learning

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have attracted a great deal of interest in recent years as a new learning technology. Since MOOCs inception, only limited research has been carried out to address how learners perceive success in MOOCs after course completion.  The aim of this study was to investigate the perceived benefits as the measurement of learning success.  Narrative interviews were conducted with 30 Russian-speaking learners who completed at least one MOOC in full.  By employing text analysis of interview transcripts, we revealed the authentic voices of participants and gained deeper understanding of learners' perceived benefits based on retrospective reflection. The findings of the study indicate that after finishing MOOCs, learners have received tangible and intangible benefits that in general justified their expectations.  University-affiliated students, as well as working professionals, recognized the complementarity of MOOCs, but their assessments were limited to educational tracks. We discovered that taking MOOCs often coincided with the time when an individual was planning to change career, education, or life tracks.  The results of the study and their implications are further discussed, together with practical suggestions for MOOC providers.

scholarly journals Compromiso, motivación y persistencia de participantes en xMOOC

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (66) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda Edith Guajardo-Leal ◽  
Katherina Edith Gallardo Córdova
Keyword(s):  
Online Courses ◽  
Participation Rate ◽  
Psychological Needs ◽  
Basic Psychological Needs ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Low Performance ◽  
Los Grupos

Los cursos masivos y abiertos en línea (MOOC, por sus siglas en inglés Massive, Open Online Courses) se presentan como una modalidad educativa innovadora, económica y de fácil acceso, que ofrece la oportunidad de democratizar la educación en nuestro tiempo. Si bien el interés en estos cursos está en aumento, la tasa de participación de los estudiantes disminuye significativamente a medida que avanzan en las actividades, por lo que la eficiencia terminal suele ser baja. Este estudio cualitativo con diseño de caso múltiple estudió el compromiso, la motivación y la persistencia de los participantes de xMOOC a través del análisis de voces detalladas y descripción profunda de las perspectivas de los participantes, para comprender mejor las formas en las participan de esta modalidad educativa. Los hallazgos revelaron diferencias entre los grupos de alto, medio y bajo rendimiento en las distintas dimensiones del compromiso y persistencia, así como semejanzas en las necesidades psicológicas básicas de competencia, autonomía y relación. Aunque la muestra fue pequeña, fue posible hacer recomendaciones para la toma de medidas específicas con respecto al diseño, la política, la práctica, la teoría y la investigación posterior en cursos en línea masivos y abiertos. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) are presented as an innovative, affordable and easily accessible educational modality, offering the opportunity to democratize education in our time. While interest in these courses is on the rise, the participation rate of students decreases significantly as they progress through activities, so terminal efficiency is often low. This qualitative study with multiple case design studied the engagement, motivation and persistence of xMOOC participants through detailed voice analysis and in-depth description of participants' perspectives, to better understand the ways in which they participate in this educational modality. The findings revealed differences between the high, medium and low performance groups in the different dimensions of engagement and persistence, as well as similarities in the basic psychological needs of competence, autonomy and relationship. Although the sample was considered small, it was possible to make recommendations for specific actions regarding design, policy, practice, theory, and subsequent research in massive open online courses.  

scholarly journals Massive open online course completion rates revisited: Assessment, length and attrition

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katy Jordan
Keyword(s):  
Online Courses ◽  
Course Completion ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Completion Rates ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Attrition Rates ◽  
Start Date ◽  
Massive Open Online Course ◽  
Course Length

<p>This analysis is based upon enrolment and completion data collected for a total of 221 Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). It extends previously reported work (Jordan, 2014) with an expanded dataset; the original work is extended to include a multiple regression analysis of factors that affect completion rates and analysis of attrition rates during courses. Completion rates (defined as the percentage of enrolled students who completed the course) vary from 0.7% to 52.1%, with a median value of 12.6%. Since their inception, enrolments on MOOCs have fallen while completion rates have increased. Completion rates vary significantly according to course length (longer courses having lower completion rates), start date (more recent courses having higher percentage completion) and assessment type (courses using auto grading only having higher completion rates). For a sub-sample of courses where rates of active use and assessment submission across the course are available, the first and second weeks appear to be critical in achieving student engagement, after which the proportion of active students and those submitting assessments levels out, with less than 3% difference between them.</p>

scholarly journals Higher Education Lecturers’ Lived Experience of Going Public in MOOCs

Open Praxis ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 287
Author(s):  
Ulf Olsson
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Going Public ◽  
Good Opportunity ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Teaching In Higher Education

Academics in higher education are used to having their research publications reviewed and openly scrutinized. Teaching in higher education has traditionally been an individual academic’s activity that has taken place in a closed classroom. However, the introduction of open education, particularly massive open online courses (MOOCs) has challenged this. In MOOCs, lectures are recorded and made public for thousands of course participants to view. This study investigates, via semi-structured interviews, how 20 lecturers of 10 MOOCs at six Swedish Universities have experienced this. All have joined the projects voluntarily, but a few have done so with some ambivalence. For them, standing in front of the camera, publishing material and, to some extent, losing control of the course content was scary at the beginning of the projects. Overall, the lecturers overcame this and thought that it was a good opportunity to reach many students, as well as a way to keep up with the changing requirements for teaching in higher education.

scholarly journals A framework for self-determination in massive open online courses: Design for autonomy, competence, and relatedness

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Martin ◽  
Nick Kelly ◽  
Peter Terry
Keyword(s):  
Intrinsic Motivation ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Self Determination Theory ◽  
Psychological Needs ◽  
Sport Performance ◽  
Basic Psychological Needs ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Massive Open Online

In this paper, we propose a framework for the design of massive open online courses (MOOCs) based upon the principles of self-determination theory, which posits a relationship between intrinsic motivation and the basic psychological need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. We also report the results of design-based research that evaluates the application of the framework to a MOOC titled “Elite Sport Performance: Psychological Perspectives”. Satisfying basic psychological needs is theorised as central to course design in order to foster intrinsic motivation, optimise engagement, and improve the retention of course participants. We chronicle the design, implementation, and evaluation of the course, providing examples of support features and learning activities. The course was offered over a period of four months, receiving more than 1000 registrations from across the world. Engagement measures, completion indices, and intrinsic motivation scores are reported as well as sample testimonies from learners. Results offer preliminary evidence that a design framework incorporating self-determination theory has utility in the development of MOOCs that successfully engage learners.

scholarly journals Framework for Personalizing Mooc Courses based on Learners’ Stress Levels Towards Increased Course Completion Rates

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 2721-2724
Keyword(s):  
Online Courses ◽  
Course Completion ◽  
Content Delivery ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Completion Rates ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Online Learners ◽  
Learning Platform ◽  
Stress Levels ◽  
Open Nature

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) has gained a huge popularity amongst the current generation students mainly because of its open nature and its ubiquity. MOOC made it possible for thousands of aspiring learners to learn from their favorite Universities. Though this online learning platform has its advantages, many studies have proved that these massive courses are suffering from tremendous rates in students’ dropouts. This study surveys the major causes of dropouts and would try to link the MOOC failures with the learners’ stress levels. The study also proposes a framework which could be used while designing MOOC courses and will help MOOC providers to personalize the content delivery according to the online learners’ stress levels.

scholarly journals Instructional Strategies that Respond to Global Learners’ Needs in Massive Open Online Courses

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Trang Phan
Keyword(s):  
Instructional Strategies ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Communication Styles ◽  
Instructional Designers ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Learning Behaviors ◽  
Educational Backgrounds

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are one of the most innovative forms of online instruction delivered to learners of different language, cultural and educational backgrounds around the world. These multicultural learners have diverse communication styles, learning behaviors and needs that are manifested and demonstrated differently in such a large scale online learning environment as MOOCs. There is little research on how aspects of MOOC learners’ diverse cultural backgrounds and learning behaviors are perceived, how these learners are characterized in terms of their learning needs, and how the MOOC instructors and instructional designers respond to these needs in the course design process. The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe how MOOC learners’ diverse learning needs, stemming from their different language, cultural and educational backgrounds, were perceived and responded to during the course design and delivery. Participants were fifteen instructors and instructional designers in American higher educational institutions who were involved in designing and delivering a wide variety of MOOC subjects on the Coursera hosting platform. The insights of participants into specific instructional strategies that were designed especially for MOOC multicultural learners’ needs were categorized into three themes: language, content and engagement. These strategies aimed to provide support and engage learners with English language barriers, or those who did not have the necessary subject background to keep up with the course, or those who were not familiar with the American education culture. The study also investigated the pedagogical challenges and concerns that the participants faced during and after the delivery of the MOOCs. Typical challenges included confusions caused during the discussion triggered by the subject, the participants’ struggle with the efficiency of peer assessment, and the applicability of the content materials for the global audience.

scholarly journals Iterative Course Design in MOOCs: Evaluating a ProtoMOOC

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 539-548
Author(s):  
Karen von Schmieden ◽  
Lena Mayer ◽  
Mana Taheri ◽  
Christoph Meinel
Keyword(s):  
Research Team ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Iterative Approach ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
The Public ◽  
Learner Centered ◽  
Measurement Tools

AbstractThis paper describes an iterative approach to course design in an effort to improve the learner-centered conceptualization of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The research team built a (design research) MOOC prototype and used three measurement tools to gather user feedback. The authors categorized this feedback and translated it into 57 improvement tasks, which they implemented in the public version of the MOOC. They discuss the protoMOOC iteration approach, underline its applicability, and suggest it as a method for fellow MOOC designers.

scholarly journals Gamification Increases Completion Rates in Massive Open Online Courses

2022 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 0-0
Keyword(s):  
Online Courses ◽  
Course Completion ◽  
Dropout Rate ◽  
Completion Rate ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Dropout Rates ◽  
Completion Rates ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
High Dropout Rate ◽  
Course Completion Rate

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) aim at unlimited participation and open access via the web. There are concerns about the actual value of such courses. This is predominantly due to higher dropout rates. According to studies, only 7-13% go on to complete these courses. The high dropout rate in MOOCs is a challenge for education providers. This paper aims to explore reasons for high dropout rates within MOOCs and how they can be minimized. With this in mind, two research questions have been set for this study: 1) Why do MOOC participants not complete their courses? 2) How can the course completion rate be increased? Implementation of the strategies investigated in this paper can increase completion rates in MOOCs. In conclusion, after analyzing the collected data, the final results have shown that gamification increased the completion rate of MOOCs.

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