Dive Brief:
- Harvard and MIT professors studied the backgrounds and intentions of people taking massive open online courses through edX and found that many of them are teachers.
- One-fifth of survey respondents offered information about their teaching background and 39% of them said they were or had been teachers, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports.
- The survey didn’t ask for teacher types so researchers can’t say whether most participants are K-12 teachers, higher ed instructors, or even day care center employees.
Dive Insight:
Beyond finding out that much of the edX audience is teachers, the study found that participants who pay for their courses to get a verified certificate were much more likely to complete the course and earn the certificate — 59% versus 5%. Researchers also tracked MOOC participation and found a steady increase in students of the Harvard and MIT courses over the first two years of the initiative. A key “next step” identified in the report is to focus research on target populations. An important difficulty with MOOCs is the extreme heterogeneity of students. They’re coming from all over the world with very disparate intentions. Some want to get a certificate, some are interested in getting more information about the topic area, and some simply want to try out an online course. Understanding that many of the edX participants are potentially teachers may help structure future courses.