A new University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education study finds the completion rate for massive open online courses, otherwise known as MOOCs, is very low — averaging at just four percent across all courses.
The study, conducted by Penn GSE’s Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy, analyzed one million Coursera users and their activity throughout 16 courses offered by the university from June 2012 to June 2013. Researchers will present the findings today during the MOOC Research Initiative Conference in Arlington, Texas.
Participation drops off after one to two weeks of participation in a course, the study finds. Course completion rates ranged from 2 percent to 14 percent depending on the course and the measurement of completion. Completion rates were also slightly higher for courses that came with fewer work assignments, but the length of the course and whether the course offered live chatting technology didn’t prove statistically significant. Across the 16 courses, half of registered participants watched at least one lecture in their course, the study found.
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