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That’s because overwhelmingly people don’t care about learning, they care about certification. The completion rates for online degrees are vastly higher because

That’s because overwhelmingly people don’t care about learning, they care about certification. The completion rates for online degrees are vastly higher because people get that piece of paper that marks one as an intelligent, hard working conformist. They have to care enough to apply, and pay for a course. I don’t know how much higher the completion rate is for EdX or Coursera students that pay for verified certificates over auditing courses but if it’s less than four times as high I’d be surprised. https://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/articles/2015/01/30/experts-debate-graduation-rates-for-online-students https://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/articles/2... > While many believe that there is a huge difference between online and on-campus completion rates, [Russell Poulin]’s research suggests the difference is slight. Based on a survey completed by more than 200 North American school officials in 2013, Poulin found that course completion rates averaged three to five percent better for on-campus courses than for online courses. https://www.edsurge.com/amp/news/2019-06-06-moving-from-5-to-85-completion-rates-for-online-courses https://www.edsurge.com/amp/news/2019-06-06-moving-from-5-to... > Today, 2U reports completion rates of up to 88 percent for their online degree programs. Harvard Business School’s online programs claim similar success, with completion rates of 85 percent. > At Acumen, where I design online courses, we’ve also been offering selective cohort-based programs for the past year that achieve completion rates of 85 percent. That’s a far cry from five years ago, when only 5 percent of the students were finishing the MOOCs I was designing. > How have instructional designers collectively moved the needle so dramatically on completion rates? Unsurprisingly, some of the biggest drivers of these improved metrics include making people pay for online programs, increasing the selectivity of courses, and adding program managers and teaching assistants to follow up with learners.

swiley 7y ago
I’m not sure people don’t care about learning, I’m certain I’m not the only one that’s gone through a lot of stuff on OCW on my own. I think people are more likely to jump through specific hoops if they get something out of it, that has little to do with learning though.
- barry-cotter 7y ago
  I didn’t say people don’t care about learning, I said that overwhelmingly they don’t. There is a tiny minority’s who value learning for its own sake. They are most of the 4% who complete MOOCs with neither entrance criteria nor certification. They are the people who read complex works of literature, in whatever genre, outside an educational context. They’re the people who don’t just occasionally go to an art gallery but can speak knowledgeably about influences, styles and periods. They’re nerds of whatever persuasion. Normal people work on their three hours of tv a day, nerds learn about Nabokov or the Assyrians or decide that it would be better to work through a modern introduction to algebra than Euclid for fun.

swiley 7y ago

I’m not sure people don’t care about learning, I’m certain I’m not the only one that’s gone through a lot of stuff on OCW on my own. I think people are more likely to jump through specific hoops if they get something out of it, that has little to do with learning though.

barry-cotter 7y ago
I didn’t say people don’t care about learning, I said that overwhelmingly they don’t. There is a tiny minority’s who value learning for its own sake. They are most of the 4% who complete MOOCs with neither entrance criteria nor certification. They are the people who read complex works of literature, in whatever genre, outside an educational context. They’re the people who don’t just occasionally go to an art gallery but can speak knowledgeably about influences, styles and periods. They’re nerds of whatever persuasion. Normal people work on their three hours of tv a day, nerds learn about Nabokov or the Assyrians or decide that it would be better to work through a modern introduction to algebra than Euclid for fun.