“HarvardX and MITx: Two Years of Open Online Courses Fall 2012-Summer 2014” report is based on “one of the largest surveys of massive open online courses (MOOCs) to date: 68 courses, 1.7 million participants, 10 million participanthours, and 1.1 billion logged events.”
The research has six key findings:
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Growth is steady in overall and multiple-course participation in HarvardX and MITx
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Participation initially declines in repeated courses, then stabilizes
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Surveys suggest that a slight majority intends to certify. Many are teachers.
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Participation and certification differ by curricular area
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Course networks reveal the centrality of large CS courses and the potential of sequenced modules
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Certification rates are high among those who pay $25-$250 to “ID-verify” their certificates
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The report identified opportunities along following three dimensions:
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Identify course-level and institutional priorities for increased access
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Increase and formalize the flow of pedagogical innovations to and from residential courses
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Focus research on target populations
Dr. Rahul Choudaha