Administrators’ chief concerns about MOOCs are outlined in the infograph. Regarding the high number of students taking the courses, critics assert that MOOCs cannot provide the same intimate experience as a traditional classroom. Students are unable to get to know their professors as well as they might have in a physical setting.
MOOCs also have notoriously low retention rates. The infograph pointed to MITx’s Circuits and Electronics course, in which 154,763 students registered, but only 7,157 completed the course, marking a 5-percent completion rate; 55 percent of students dropped out before the course began.
MOOCs might not be the best choice for students who lack motivation, and those who choose to pursue MOOCs must be aware of their unique course structure. The infograph highlights issues with academic dishonesty and plagiarism, some of which were discovered at Coursera last August through peer grading.
The lack of universal standards also concerns MOOC critics, as does the issue of college credit-worthiness.
Check out the full infograph here:
Follow Assistant Editor Sarah Langmead on Twitter @eCN_Sarah.
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