Engagement and desertion in MOOCs: Systematic review

Abstract

Massive and open online courses (MOOCs) satisfy learning needs from the particularities of their typologies (xMOOC, tMOOC, cMOOC, iMOOC, among others) even though their high dropout rate is still latent. Recent studies reaffirm engagement as an alternative to reduce dropout rates. The literature analyzed has not yet been able to systematize responses as to how to guarantee engagement in MOOCs and thus reduce their attrition rate. And, consistent with that question, are there still challenges for teachers in this area of educational technology? These answers motivated us to carry out this systematic review to determine how engagement has been studied to help reduce the attrition rate in MOOCs. Articles from journals indexed in Scopus or WoS were reviewed applying the PRISMA protocol. At the end of the protocol, it was defined to analyze 40 studies. The results reflect that the main variables are: the design of e-activities, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and communication between students. This paper confirms that the main challenges to guarantee engagement in MOOCs are individualized tutoring, interactivity, and feedback. Due to the scarcity of studies that analyze the variables in an integrated way, it is proposed as future work to determine what relationships exist between these variables that interfere with engagement and dropout in MOOCs. Los cursos en línea masivos y abiertos (MOOCs) permiten satisfacer necesidades de aprendizaje desde las particularidades de sus tipologías (xMOOC, tMOOC, cMOOC, iMOOC, entre otras), sin embargo, es aún latente su alta tasa de deserción. Estudios recientes reafirman el engagement como una alternativa para disminuir los índices de deserción. La literatura analizada aún no logra sistematizar respuestas a ¿cómo garantizar el engagement en los MOOCs y disminuir así su tasa de deserción? Y, en coherencia con esa pregunta, ¿existen aún retos del profesorado en este ámbito de la tecnología educativa? Ello motivó a realizar esta revisión sistemática para determinar cómo se ha trabajado el engagement para contribuir a disminuir la tasa de deserción en los MOOCs. Se revisaron artículos de revistas indexadas en Scopus o en WoS aplicando el protocolo PRISMA. Al finalizar el protocolo se definió analizar 40 estudios. Los resultados reflejan que las principales variables son: el diseño e-actividades; la motivación intrínseca y extrínseca y; la comunicación entre los estudiantes. Se ratifica que los principales retos para garantizar el engagement en los MOOCs son: la tutoría individualizada; la interactividad; y la retroalimentación. Debido a la escasez de estudios que analicen de forma integrada las variables antes mencionadas, se propone como trabajo futuro, determinar qué relaciones existen entre estas variables que intervienen en el engagement y la deserción en los MOOCs.

The Effects of WhatsApp and Telegram on Student Engagement: An Analysis from the Mixed-Methods Approach

“…In this context, generating adequate engagement is vital to achieving high retention rates. We agree with other similar research types [4,11] that the educational use of WhatsApp influences the social, emotional, and behavioral dimensions of engagement, while Telegram fundamentally influences the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral dimensions [26].…”

“…e triangulation of the qualitative and quantitative results shows a direct relationship between the dimensions of student engagement and the collaborative activities carried out with Moodle and digital social networks. Only joint activities allowed developing student engagement (learning platform and social network); these results coincide with those obtained by Estrada-Molina and Fuentes-Cancell [26]. Consequently, from digital social networks, the collaborative influence of fellow students exerted a direct influence on the behavior of students and teachers; this result coinciding with those obtained by Yu et al [28].…”

“…Feedback on Telegram was done in studentcentered and a process-centered dialogue. For this reason, it was necessary to train the teacher and the student in the didactic use of this social network [26].…”

Institutional Entrepreneurship in Loosely Coupled Systems: The Subject Position of MOOC Entrepreneurs and Their Interpretive Struggles in a Norwegian Context

“…These research reviews synthesize published studies from the previous decade (2010–2020), and thus provide a great scope of the research field. Still, we find that drop-out, retention, and attrition issues spark great research interest (Chen et al, 2022 ; Chiappe & Castillo, 2021 ; Estrada-Molina & Fuentes-Cancell, 2022 ; Wang et al, 2022 ). These research reviews are prone to emphasizing different explanations as to why learners drop out of MOOCs, which can be attributed to ineffective online course design, lack of belonging, time factors, and hidden costs, etc.…”

MOOCs 2012-2022: An overview

“…In contrast, xMOOCs adopt a cognitive-behavioural approach to content-based knowledge, through which ready-made learning material is delivered to learners in an instructor-led manner to achieve pre-determined expected learning outcomes (Estrada-Molina & Fuentes-Cancell, 2022). The pedagogical design of xMOOCs is similar to live university lectures.…”