دانلود رایگان مقاله بررسی عوامل موثر بر حفظ دوره های آموزشی عمومی اینترنتی

Abstract

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) hold the potential to open up educational opportunities to a global audience. However, evidence suggests that only a small proportion of MOOC participants go on to complete their courses and relatively little is understood about the MOOC design and implementation factors that influence retention. This paper reports a survey study of 379 participants enrolled at university in Cairo who were encouraged to take a MOOC of their own choice as part of their development. 122 participants (32.2%) went onto to complete an entire course. There were no significant differences in completion rates by gender, level of study (undergraduate or postgraduate) or MOOC platform. A post-MOOC survey of students' perceptions found that MOOC Course Content was a significant predictor of MOOC retention, with the relationship mediated by the effect of content on the Perceived Effectiveness of the course. Interaction with the instructor of the MOOC was also found to be significant predictor of MOOC retention. Overall these constructs explained 79% of the variance in MOOC retention.

7. Conclusion

The aim of this research was to examine the effect of experience of MOOC characteristics on learner retention. The findings identified MOOC content, Perceived Effectiveness and Instructor Interaction as having a significant effect on learner retention, together explaining a substantial percentage of the variance in retention. While MOOC content has a major effect on Perceived Effectiveness and subsequently on retention, interaction with the instructor is also important for learner retention. This may represent a limiting factor for the viability of very large scale MOOCs and suggests that MOOC providers need to think carefully about how to provide appropriate human interactive elements to their courses as well as excellent content.