Literature review

Introduction

Since the launch of the first Massive Open Online Course over ten years ago – arguably by Stephen Downes and George Siemens in 2008, MOOCs have become a popular method of delivering online learning to large numbers of people. However, their high attrition rates and low completion rates have brought criticism that MOOCs are not particularly effective in so-called mass teaching. Studies have been undertaken to identify what causes these high dropout rates and low completion rates in order to adapt courses and increase participants’ chances of success.

 In my role as Moodle Community Educator, I have facilitated a MOOC for teaching non-technical educators how to use the Moodle software. First run in 2013, the four-week MOOC has been running (regularly) since 2015 and changes slightly each time, based on participant feedback. The most recent change has been to offer participants the choice of seeing all teaching materials at once, ‘All at once’, allowing them to work (mainly) at their own pace, or of having them revealed one week at a time, ‘Step by step’, avoiding information overload.

Some MOOCS display all teaching content from the start, while many display it based on a weekly schedule or upon a participant’s completion of an earlier activity. The Learn Moodle MOOC is different in that participants have a choice. Recent research on this is scant: apart from one study six years ago (Mullaney, T and Reich, J 2013), previous studies of MOOCs have not really dealt with the motivations and results of offering such a choice of course content release in MOOCs. The literature does however provide some insights into how their personal situations affect participants’ navigation through a MOOC, what motivates them ultimately to complete a MOOC and how we can predict performance.

The purpose of this literature review is to identify studies which investigate the reasons behind MOOC participants’ navigation through course modules and possible predictors of eventual success. It is hoped that the review will inform and  provide a background to my own project, exploring why participants select a particular learning path and how it affects their chance of completion.

The review will consider two aspects:
  • Factors affecting navigation through a MOOC
  • Predictors of retention and completion.