An Analysis of Course Characteristics, Learner Characteristics, and Certification Rates in MITx MOOCs

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), capable of providing free (or low cost) courses for millions of learners anytime and anywhere, have gained the attention of researchers, educational institutions, and learners worldwide. Even though they provide several benefits, there are still some criticisms...

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Autores principales:	Nergiz Ercil Cagiltay, Kursat Cagiltay, Berkan Celik
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Athabasca University Press 2020
Materias:	MOOCs MITx online learning massive open online courses Special aspects of education LC8-6691
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/3a11745816c14d9780f53d4fe1f72f4d
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:3a11745816c14d9780f53d4fe1f72f4d2021-12-02T19:25:57ZAn Analysis of Course Characteristics, Learner Characteristics, and Certification Rates in MITx MOOCs10.19173/irrodl.v21i3.46981492-3831https://doaj.org/article/3a11745816c14d9780f53d4fe1f72f4d2020-04-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/4698https://doaj.org/toc/1492-3831 Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), capable of providing free (or low cost) courses for millions of learners anytime and anywhere, have gained the attention of researchers, educational institutions, and learners worldwide. Even though they provide several benefits, there are still some criticisms of MOOCs. For instance, MOOCs’ high dropout rates or predominantly elite participation are considered to be important problems. In order to develop solutions for these problems, a deeper understanding of MOOCs is required. Today, despite the availability of several research studies about MOOCs, there is a shortage of in-depth research on course characteristics, learner characteristics, and predictors of certification rates. This study examined MOOC and learner characteristics in detail and explored the predictors of course certification rates based on data from 122 Massachusetts Institute of Technology MOOCs (MITx) on edX platform as well as data about the 2.8 million participants registered in these MOOCs. The results indicated that as the number of courses offered and the number of learners enrolled increased in years, there was a decrease in the certification rates among enrolled learners. According to our results, the number of average chapters completed, total forum messages, and mean age predicted course certification rates positively. On the other hand, the total number of chapters in a course predicted the course certification rates negatively. Based on these results, shorter and more interactive MOOCs are recommended by considering the needs of the learners, course content design, and strategies encouraging the enrolled students to enter the courses. Nergiz Ercil CagiltayKursat CagiltayBerkan CelikAthabasca University PressarticleMOOCsMITxonline learningmassive open online coursesSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691ENInternational Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, Vol 21, Iss 3 (2020)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	MOOCs MITx online learning massive open online courses Special aspects of education LC8-6691
spellingShingle	MOOCs MITx online learning massive open online courses Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Nergiz Ercil Cagiltay Kursat Cagiltay Berkan Celik An Analysis of Course Characteristics, Learner Characteristics, and Certification Rates in MITx MOOCs
description	Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), capable of providing free (or low cost) courses for millions of learners anytime and anywhere, have gained the attention of researchers, educational institutions, and learners worldwide. Even though they provide several benefits, there are still some criticisms of MOOCs. For instance, MOOCs’ high dropout rates or predominantly elite participation are considered to be important problems. In order to develop solutions for these problems, a deeper understanding of MOOCs is required. Today, despite the availability of several research studies about MOOCs, there is a shortage of in-depth research on course characteristics, learner characteristics, and predictors of certification rates. This study examined MOOC and learner characteristics in detail and explored the predictors of course certification rates based on data from 122 Massachusetts Institute of Technology MOOCs (MITx) on edX platform as well as data about the 2.8 million participants registered in these MOOCs. The results indicated that as the number of courses offered and the number of learners enrolled increased in years, there was a decrease in the certification rates among enrolled learners. According to our results, the number of average chapters completed, total forum messages, and mean age predicted course certification rates positively. On the other hand, the total number of chapters in a course predicted the course certification rates negatively. Based on these results, shorter and more interactive MOOCs are recommended by considering the needs of the learners, course content design, and strategies encouraging the enrolled students to enter the courses.
format	article
author	Nergiz Ercil Cagiltay Kursat Cagiltay Berkan Celik
author_facet	Nergiz Ercil Cagiltay Kursat Cagiltay Berkan Celik
author_sort	Nergiz Ercil Cagiltay
title	An Analysis of Course Characteristics, Learner Characteristics, and Certification Rates in MITx MOOCs
title_short	An Analysis of Course Characteristics, Learner Characteristics, and Certification Rates in MITx MOOCs
title_full	An Analysis of Course Characteristics, Learner Characteristics, and Certification Rates in MITx MOOCs
title_fullStr	An Analysis of Course Characteristics, Learner Characteristics, and Certification Rates in MITx MOOCs
title_full_unstemmed	An Analysis of Course Characteristics, Learner Characteristics, and Certification Rates in MITx MOOCs
title_sort	analysis of course characteristics, learner characteristics, and certification rates in mitx moocs
publisher	Athabasca University Press
publishDate	2020
url	https://doaj.org/article/3a11745816c14d9780f53d4fe1f72f4d
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An Analysis of Course Characteristics, Learner Characteristics, and Certification Rates in MITx MOOCs

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