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> yet people are learning effectively from MOOCs Statistically speaking, they aren't, that's the problem. Completion rates with Coursera are ~5%. Some argue th

> yet people are learning effectively from MOOCs Statistically speaking, they aren't, that's the problem. Completion rates with Coursera are ~5%. Some argue that many people don't _want_ to finish the courses, but this views the product as something fixed. For any other kind of business, is "people sign up but then don't value it enough to continue" an excuse for lack of retention?

pekk 12y ago
Retention is not a goal. For example, if you are just trying to make money, then you don't really care if all your content is consumed as long as people still pay their subscriptions or whatever. Of course, the reason completion rates are so bad with MOOCs is free access. If you force people to filter themselves out unless they are willing to pay a lot, you will see more normal "completion rates" expressed as a percentage of those who paid a lot. It would be perverse to argue, however, that MOOCs should be pay-only for this reason. It's a confusion about the meaning of completion rate as a performance metric for MOOCs.
- kenferry 12y ago
  There are plenty of free in-person classes in the world (I'm sure you can sign up for a dance class, for example), and an in-person class that had a 5% completion rate would be a disaster. I'm not sure what you're arguing. You think people are learning well from MOOCs in their current form? You might note Thrun's own thoughts on the subject: http://www.fastcompany.com/3021473/udacity-sebastian-thrun-uphill-climb http://www.fastcompany.com/3021473/udacity-sebastian-thrun-u... "We were on the front pages of newspapers and magazines, and at the same time, I was realizing, we don't educate people as others wished, or as I wished. We have a lousy product,"
  - sillysaurus3 12y ago
    You think people are learning well from MOOCs in their current form? Yes. I am, for example. Online classes aren't physical classes. Physical classes don't have 5% retention rates because people have to show up for them, so they're more likely to go next time. Being in a group makes people want to continue being in it. But with online classes, there's no such hook, and so people skip out. Also, it seems mistaken for stats on retention rates to include everyone who originally signed up. They should measure the retention rate for people who made it halfway through the course. I'd bet that they'll see a much higher rate, because if someone hasn't left halfway through the course, they're unlikely to leave just because they suddenly feel like it. And if that's true, then it's evidence that people in that situation take MOOCs as seriously as their normal classes.
    - ericd 12y ago
      Yeah, the one I completed, I was completely locked in by ~halfway through, due to the already-invested time.
ericd 12y ago
They're at 5% because people like me sign up for every course that sounds vaguely interesting, well before they start, and then when it comes time to actually do the work, I almost always drop it because I'm preoccupied. I treat it like signing up for an alert to let me know when it's going to start, at which point I make the actual decision. There's also a more structural problem with synchronous learning, in that if a real world problem like my job conflicts with a self-imposed homework deadline, the deadline isn't going to win. But that seems solveable by offering async options for those it fits better.

pekk 12y ago

Retention is not a goal. For example, if you are just trying to make money, then you don't really care if all your content is consumed as long as people still pay their subscriptions or whatever. Of course, the reason completion rates are so bad with MOOCs is free access. If you force people to filter themselves out unless they are willing to pay a lot, you will see more normal "completion rates" expressed as a percentage of those who paid a lot. It would be perverse to argue, however, that MOOCs should be pay-only for this reason. It's a confusion about the meaning of completion rate as a performance metric for MOOCs.

kenferry 12y ago
There are plenty of free in-person classes in the world (I'm sure you can sign up for a dance class, for example), and an in-person class that had a 5% completion rate would be a disaster. I'm not sure what you're arguing. You think people are learning well from MOOCs in their current form? You might note Thrun's own thoughts on the subject: http://www.fastcompany.com/3021473/udacity-sebastian-thrun-uphill-climb http://www.fastcompany.com/3021473/udacity-sebastian-thrun-u... "We were on the front pages of newspapers and magazines, and at the same time, I was realizing, we don't educate people as others wished, or as I wished. We have a lousy product,"
- sillysaurus3 12y ago
  You think people are learning well from MOOCs in their current form? Yes. I am, for example. Online classes aren't physical classes. Physical classes don't have 5% retention rates because people have to show up for them, so they're more likely to go next time. Being in a group makes people want to continue being in it. But with online classes, there's no such hook, and so people skip out. Also, it seems mistaken for stats on retention rates to include everyone who originally signed up. They should measure the retention rate for people who made it halfway through the course. I'd bet that they'll see a much higher rate, because if someone hasn't left halfway through the course, they're unlikely to leave just because they suddenly feel like it. And if that's true, then it's evidence that people in that situation take MOOCs as seriously as their normal classes.
  - ericd 12y ago
    Yeah, the one I completed, I was completely locked in by ~halfway through, due to the already-invested time.

ericd 12y ago

They're at 5% because people like me sign up for every course that sounds vaguely interesting, well before they start, and then when it comes time to actually do the work, I almost always drop it because I'm preoccupied. I treat it like signing up for an alert to let me know when it's going to start, at which point I make the actual decision. There's also a more structural problem with synchronous learning, in that if a real world problem like my job conflicts with a self-imposed homework deadline, the deadline isn't going to win. But that seems solveable by offering async options for those it fits better.