MOOCs -- Completion Is Not Important - 20 views
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c maggard on 11 Nov 14By: Matthew LeBar Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are often described as the future of education - or at least a significant part of it. But there may be a significant problem with them: a very small proportion of students who start them actually finish. This poses a serious threat to their legitimacy.
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embioptera on 12 Nov 14Very interesting article. I was at an Open Access week event recently that was a debate on the place of MOOCs in higher education. One point that another attendee raised about the completion rate of MOOCs that seemed really important to me was that many MOOCs require participants to register before viewing the content, and this can impact completion rate numbers. A person may only have the requisite information about whether or not the wish to participate once they have registered for the MOOC.
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selviwati on 13 Nov 14Thanks for sharing this! :) I am taking MOOC course about MOOC right now. I feel like completion could be a challenge for anyone who took it. I actually agree that completion is not everything in education. Since learning is more about understanding rather than completing, I think there is no point if someone did complete his/her MOOC but he/she does not understand about what he/she learned. However, I believe, in order to fully understand the course, it is better to complete what you have started.
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pad123 on 13 Nov 14I too feel that completion of MOOC is important. Other wise no point in participating in that MOOC. we also will get any information on the internet for knowledge gain. But there will be a regular follow up of the course for completing any MOOC. But only problem is having proper IT infrastructure to participate in that.
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ibudule on 13 Nov 14Thank you for sharing. On the one hand one can choose form the course lessons and material that they want and choose not to complete the whole course. Then of course one can not evaluate the course judging from the completion rate. On the other hand, ability to complete what is started develops human will-power and purposefulness. Otherwise the world is full of people with unfinished educations, short-term employments etc.
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dudeec on 14 Nov 14What the article says really is "MOOC completion rate is not a meaningful metrics about the course." Universities and institutions may need to have other metrics in order to evaluate whether to continue offer certain courses. As for individual participants, each person is her/his best critic on how much has been gained from the course.
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Fernando Carraro on 15 Nov 14Cierto, tal vez muchos no lo terminen. Yo creo que lo importante es el conocimiento aprendido.
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ilanab on 15 Nov 14Thanks for sharing this article. I'm in agreement with LeBar, completion of the MOOC is not the correct metric to be used for evaluation. The goal of many participants is to gain or increase knowledge on a topic which may be achieved without completing the whole course.
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lenjomaydresden on 20 Nov 14This ongoing MOOC is hard for me to complete since there is a lot of internet and network action required which I don't like to use at the moment. Still, I got so much Information that I will try to fulfill the requirements to pass it. It is not for the statistics - but for my personal support of the MOOC instructors (I wounder whether they notice)
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nivinsharawi on 20 Nov 14i think MOOC will be more effective for exchange of knowledge e for certain important topic for stakeholder who aim self progress development
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Abdul Naser Tamim on 24 Nov 14I have joined another MOOC and received the "statement of accomplishment" and it was totally a big disappointment. The design and the language used reflect mentality is not related to what they are teaching online. It is underestimating people around the world time and efforts by issuing a statement is not well designed and meaningless. The question would be: does it worth it to finish any course online? the knowledge is already free and affordable all over the net, why do I need to follow an institute organized free course? People are not finishing the MOOC courses because of frustration and disappointment and this has to be reviewed.
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erikitaymarijo on 25 Nov 14Tal vez no puede decirse que sea el futuro de la educación, pero si coadyuva para que el conocimiento pueda acercarse a cualquier persona, e incentivar al autoaprendizaje.
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zimbron21 on 25 Nov 14Habría que preguntarse cuál es el problema de que los estudiantes no concluyan los cursos MOOC, buscar las alternativas respectivas.MOOC ventanas de oportunidad para cualquier persona.
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vicdesotelle on 30 Nov 14This brings up the question of what it means to complete something? And why is it so important to us? And why 'productivity', a thing somebody defined ages ago, is so important to our humanity? .. or is it anymore?
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w_kwai on 03 Dec 14Because I am taking a MOOC course but also on campus at University, I receive credits and grades where this is definitely one of the motivations for me to contribute. Although I agree that completion of the course is not essential to attain knowledge, what about our motivations to learn? And what about our incentives? Not saying MOOCs are not interesting nor helpful, I like MOOCs, but I think people like recognition too. I think to just receive the "statement of accomplishment" is not enough to prove efforts made within the course. However MOOCs are not as well developed at this stage, there definitely will be adjustments in the near future.