Only 3 percent complete Duke’s noncredit online courses


Even at Duke University, only about 3 percent of those who enrolled in a MOOC actually completed their course, the Triangle Business Journal reports.

In raw numbers, the university had 876,354 enrollments in a massive open online course, the new kind of way to advance learning in which university professors upload course lectures and assignments online but for which students don’t receive credit. Of those, 29,551 completed their course, according to Duke data.

Duke leaders acknowledge that figure “may seem low given such a high number of initial enrollments,” but echoed what many in academia have said: That people don’t enroll in these MOOCs to complete their work, they do so mainly to advance some education or knowledge, similarly to the way a person might read a book on a particular topic.

That matches what students said at the outset. When Duke offered it’s first MOOC, only 9 percent of students said it was “very important for them to earn a credential,” while 43 percent said it was “very important that the experience be personally enjoyable.”

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