Loneliness of the long distance MOOC runner

In a recent study at the U of Pennsylvania, it turned out - as many other studies have noted - that few takers of MOOCs actually complete the course.  What's interesting about the study is that many takers don't even start them.

Emerging data from a University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE) study show that massive open online courses (MOOCs) have relatively few active users, that user “engagement” falls off dramatically—especially after the first 1-2 weeks of a course—and that few users persist to the course end. Presented today by Laura Perna and Alan Ruby at the MOOC Research Initiative Conference in Texas, the findings are from the newly established Alliance for Higher Education & Democracy at Penn GSE...

Across all courses, about half of those who registered viewed at least one lecture within their selected course...

Full article at http://www.gse.upenn.edu/pressroom/press-releases/2013/12/penn-gse-study-shows-moocs-have-relatively-few-active-users-only-few-persisti