Initial trends in enrolment and completion of massive open online courses

TLDR

Massive open online courses have expanded rapidly over the past two years, attracting media attention, yet consistent data on how enrollment and completion figures have evolved remains scarce. This study compiles publicly available data to investigate factors influencing MOOC enrollment and completion. On average, MOOCs enroll about 43,000 students with a 6.5% completion rate; enrollment is falling over time and rises with course length, while completion rates stay stable across time, university rank, and enrollment but drop with longer courses, offering a clearer picture of MOOC development.

Abstract

<p>The past two years have seen rapid development of massive open online courses (MOOCs) with the rise of a number of MOOC platforms. The scale of enrolment and participation in the earliest mainstream MOOC courses has garnered a good deal of media attention. However, data about how the enrolment and completion figures have changed since the early courses is not consistently released. This paper seeks to draw together the data that has found its way into the public domain in order to explore factors affecting enrolment and completion. The average MOOC course is found to enroll around 43,000 students, 6.5% of whom complete the course. Enrolment numbers are decreasing over time and are positively correlated with course length. Completion rates are consistent across time, university rank, and total enrolment, but negatively correlated with course length. This study provides a more detailed view of trends in enrolment and completion than was available previously, and a more accurate view of how the MOOC field is developing.</p>