Everyone needs to understand that the low completion rates are not as bad as they at first seem. The way to try out these classes for free is to sign up. There

Everyone needs to understand that the low completion rates are not as bad as they at first seem. The way to try out these classes for free is to sign up. There is no obligation at all: completely voluntary, no cost, no time commitment and it will not show up on permanent record. These completion rates are actually more like conversion rates for free trials. As many of us know these are almost always quite low. How many people actually ever read books they "Look Inside" on Amazon? How many people finish long articles on the web? Now many people sign up for paying accounts after free trials of your new website? Not very many. They are not the same as dropout rates in high schools or universities despite what some online education haters say[1]. Like any disruptive technology the existing players are threatened so you need to pay attention to the source of the criticism. Instead completion rates are a metric that can be used to improve the class such as the suggestions here. The developers of online classes should and are using A/B testing to improve completion rates. However like almost all conversion rates they will likely remain low. [1] http://mitsloan.mit.edu/shared/ods/documents/High-Costs-of-Free-Online-Education.pdf&PubID=5082 http://mitsloan.mit.edu/shared/ods/documents/High-Costs-of-F...