Engagement and desertion in MOOCs: Systematic review

Massive and open online courses (MOOCs) satisfy learning needs from the particularities of their typologies (xMOOC, tMOOC, cMOOC, iMOOC, among others) even though their high dropout rate is still latent. Recent studies reaffirm engagement as an alternative to reduce dropout rates. The literature analyzed has not yet been able to systematize responses as to how to guarantee engagement in MOOCs and thus reduce their attrition rate. And, consistent with that question, are there still challenges for teachers in this area of educational technology? These answers motivated us to carry out this systematic review to determine how engagement has been studied to help reduce the attrition rate in MOOCs. Articles from journals indexed in Scopus or WoS were reviewed applying the PRISMA protocol. At the end of the protocol, it was defined to analyze 40 studies. The results reflect that the main variables are: the design of e-activities, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and communication between students. This paper confirms that the main challenges to guarantee engagement in MOOCs are individualized tutoring, interactivity, and feedback. Due to the scarcity of studies that analyze the variables in an integrated way, it is proposed as future work to determine what relationships exist between these variables that interfere with engagement and dropout in MOOCs. Los cursos en línea masivos y abiertos (MOOCs) permiten satisfacer necesidades de aprendizaje desde las particularidades de sus tipologías (xMOOC, tMOOC, cMOOC, iMOOC, entre otras), sin embargo, es aún latente su alta tasa de deserción. Estudios recientes reafirman el engagement como una alternativa para disminuir los índices de deserción. La literatura analizada aún no logra sistematizar respuestas a ¿cómo garantizar el engagement en los MOOCs y disminuir así su tasa de deserción? Y, en coherencia con esa pregunta, ¿existen aún retos del profesorado en este ámbito de la tecnología educativa? Ello motivó a realizar esta revisión sistemática para determinar cómo se ha trabajado el engagement para contribuir a disminuir la tasa de deserción en los MOOCs. Se revisaron artículos de revistas indexadas en Scopus o en WoS aplicando el protocolo PRISMA. Al finalizar el protocolo se definió analizar 40 estudios. Los resultados reflejan que las principales variables son: el diseño e-actividades; la motivación intrínseca y extrínseca y; la comunicación entre los estudiantes. Se ratifica que los principales retos para garantizar el engagement en los MOOCs son: la tutoría individualizada; la interactividad; y la retroalimentación. Debido a la escasez de estudios que analicen de forma integrada las variables antes mencionadas, se propone como trabajo futuro, determinar qué relaciones existen entre estas variables que intervienen en el engagement y la deserción en los MOOCs.

Gamification Increases Completion Rates in Massive Open Online Courses

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.

A Machine Learning Approach to Detect Student Dropout at University

In universities, student dropout is a major concern that reflects the university's quality. Some characteristics cause students to drop out of university. A high dropout rate of students affects the university's reputation and the student's careers in the future. Therefore, there's a requirement for student dropout analysis to enhance academic plan and management to scale back student's drop out from the university also on enhancing the standard of the upper education system. The machine learning technique provides powerful methods for the analysis and therefore the prediction of the dropout. This study uses a dataset from a university representative to develop a model for predicting student dropout. In this work, machine- learning models were used to detect dropout rates. Machine learning is being more widely used in the field of knowledge mining diagnostics. Following an examination of certain studies, we observed that dropout detection may be done using several methods. We've even used five dropout detection models. These models are Decision tree, Naïve bayes, Random Forest Classifier, SVM and KNN. We used machine-learning technology to analyze the data, and we discovered that the Random Forest classifier is highly promising for predicting dropout rates, with a training accuracy of 94% and a testing accuracy of 86%.

Dropout Time and Learners’ Performance in Computer Programming MOOCs

One of the problems regarding MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) is the high dropout rate. Although dropout periods have been studied, there is still a lack of understanding of how dropout differs for MOOCs with different levels of difficulty. A quantitative study was conducted to determine the periods with the highest dropouts in computer programming MOOCs and the performance of the dropouts on the course before dropping out. Four occurrences of three MOOCs, with different durations, difficulty of the topic, and the degree of supportive methods, were included. The results showed that dropout was highest at the beginning of all studied courses. Learners also dropped out before the project. In the easier and shorter courses, most dropouts were successful until they quit the course. In longer and more difficult courses, learners mainly dropped out in the week they started due to experiencing problems with the course activities. It is suggested to recommend that learners take courses at a level that suits them if their current course is too easy or difficult and encourage learners to use course resources for help. It would be a good idea to provide learners with example topics to assist them in starting with a project.

Investigating Student Satisfaction With Online Courses

The educational system has moved towards digitization and online learning in the past two decades. The institutions are focusing on delivering online courses to facilitate the students. Uttarakhand Open University offered online courses to reach the unreached learners. High dropout rate from MOOCs is a global concern. Learners' satisfaction survey is one of the important instruments to investigate the reasons of discontinuance from an online course. Detailed analysis of learners' satisfaction survey will help the educators understand learners' expectations from the course and they can work on these factors which leads to increasing the learners' satisfaction with MOOCs and thereby address high-dropout rates from MOOCs. This paper investigates the students' satisfaction of online courses on academic counselling, assignments, and examination marking process and various support services provided by the university. A structed questionnaire of 5-point Likert scale was administrated using Google form. The data (269 valid responses) have been analysed quantitatively by implying statistical measures. The findings show that academic counselling provided by the university to students are conceptual, clear, and knowledgeable. The students are comfortable on assignment, examination, and their result declarations. Along with this the online services, different initiatives and other support services provided by university are discussed in detail and suggested for further enhancements. Furthermore, it is also concluded that the study center structure is adequate, and personnel at study center are very helpful with students.

Portable rotating grating stimulation for anisometropic amblyopia with 6 months training

Treatment of grating stimulation has been used in amblyopia for decades, but high dropout rate and inconvenience for daily practice occur in previous studies. We developed a home-based portable system with rotating grating stimulation on a tablet. Thirty anisometropic amblyopic children were randomly allocated into the control or Grating group. They drew contour of the picture under patch of a better eye for 6 months. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), grating acuity (GA), and contrast sensitivity (CS) were assessed at the baseline, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 6th months of training. All participants completed the 6-month training. Patched eyes of both groups exhibited no difference. Trained eyes of the control group had significantly slight improvement in BCVA and GA. In particular, the Grating group exhibited significantly higher BCVA, GA, and CS compared with those of the control group at the 3rd and 6th months of training. Moreover, percentage of the Grating group with great improvement (BCVA ≥ 0.3 or CS ≥ 0.3) was significantly larger than those of the control group at the 3rd or 6th months of training. The portable grating stimulation system demonstrates its trainability by no dropout and effectiveness by significant improvements in all assessments through a well experimental design.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04213066, registered 30/12/2019, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04213066.

Failing to make the grade: Somali-Canadian students and their encounters with the Canadian education system

This study examines how the discriminatory practices and racism in the education system contribute to the low achievement and high dropout rate of Somali-Canadian youth. Through qualitative research, semi-structured interviews with nine participants--this study explores the educational experiences of Somali students in the Toronto District School Board (the TDSB). This study found Somali students experience systemic discrimination in local TDSB schools--unfair grading practices, ethnic grading, differential treatment, deliberate streaming, stereotyping, profiling, the unequal application of discipline policies, disproportionate rates of suspensions and lack of religious accommodation. This study also found that systemic discrimination contributes to low achievement of Somali students, their disengagement from learning process, early school departure, and the criminalization of Somali boys. This study employs Critical Race Theory (CRT) in education as its main theoretical framework, through this lens the researcher links the schooling problems of Somali students to systemic discrimination based on their race and/or ethnicity.

Failing to make the grade: Somali-Canadian students and their encounters with the Canadian education system

This study examines how the discriminatory practices and racism in the education system contribute to the low achievement and high dropout rate of Somali-Canadian youth. Through qualitative research, semi-structured interviews with nine participants--this study explores the educational experiences of Somali students in the Toronto District School Board (the TDSB). This study found Somali students experience systemic discrimination in local TDSB schools--unfair grading practices, ethnic grading, differential treatment, deliberate streaming, stereotyping, profiling, the unequal application of discipline policies, disproportionate rates of suspensions and lack of religious accommodation. This study also found that systemic discrimination contributes to low achievement of Somali students, their disengagement from learning process, early school departure, and the criminalization of Somali boys. This study employs Critical Race Theory (CRT) in education as its main theoretical framework, through this lens the researcher links the schooling problems of Somali students to systemic discrimination based on their race and/or ethnicity.

Why do Junior High School Students from Poor Families in Southwest China Maintain a High Dropout Rate under Multiple Policies Support?

Little is known about the reasons for the high dropout rate of students from poor Southwest China families under various policies support. The dropout rate of 27312 junior high school students was 6.90%, and the dropout rate of grade 7-9 increased with the grade. Principal Component Analysis was conducted on 21 attributes of 299 dropout students. We found that parents with higher educated degree and late marriage, parents working close to home, large family size, family with sick or disabled members, higher grade and non-boarding and unhealthy students increased the dropout rate. The dropout prevention requires reducing the inducers from family, school management and students themselves.

Impacto da pandemia do SARS-COV-2 na educação médica: migração "compulsória" para o modelo remoto, uma visão preliminar de gestores da educação médica

INTRODUCTION: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic affected the educational models offered in medical courses. In this context, with the authorization to offer courses remotely, there is an unprecedented acceleration in the migration from the traditional model to the eLearning model, which was already occurring gradually in the Brazilian higher education system. Due to the social isolation to face the crisis, this model is being applied in full in many Higher-educational institutions (HEIs) in the country and may have repercussions on methodological changes in medical education. OBJECTIVES: To discuss the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on medical education, analyzing the migration to eLearning Modality. METHOD: A reflection was made from management meetings at two private universities based on the authors' experience in medical education management. RESULTS: The global pandemic context has impacted teaching within the scope of students, professors, and HEIs. The high investments in the migration of the teaching model and the high dropout rate have impacted the suspension of contracts for teachers from private HEIs. The inequality of technological access, unsuitable environments, and the poor quality of telephony/internet in the country can impact on academic performance. CONCLUSIONS: It is undeniable that medical education is suffering a profound transformation by this global health crisis. However, it is too early to say with certainty the size of this impact. In the future, it will be necessary to adapt the concept of evidence-based medical education to assess the practical repercussions of this pandemic in medical education.