Student skill and goal achievement in the mapping with google MOOC

Abstract

Students who registered for the Mapping with Google massive open online course (MOOC) were asked several questions during the registration process to identify prior experience with eleven skills as well as their goals for registering for the course. Students selected goals from a list; they were periodically reminded of these goals during the MOOC. At the end of the course, we compared students' self reports of goal achievement on a post-course survey with behavioral click-stream analysis. In addition, we assessed how well prior skill in a subject predicts a student's course completion and found no correlation. Our research shows that students who completed course activities were more likely to earn certificates of completion than peers who did not.