(Dis)Organization and Success in an Economics MOOC
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Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) present the potential to deliver high quality education to a large number of students. But they suffer from low completion rates. This paper identifies disorganization as a factor behind failure to complete a MOOC. Students who enroll one day late are 17 percentage points less likely to earn a certificate than students who enroll exactly on time. This reflects selection, but it does seem to be related to demographic characteristics, motivation to complete the course, or ability. This suggests that building in even more structure in the MOOC could be a factor in improving performance.
Date issued
2014-05Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of EconomicsJournal
American Economic Review
Publisher
American Economic Association
Citation
Banerjee, Abhijit V., and Esther Duflo. “(Dis)Organization and Success in an Economics MOOC.” American Economic Review 104, no. 5 (May 2014): 514–518. © 2014 American Economic Association
Version: Final published version
ISSN
0002-8282
1944-7981