Abstract
The objective of the paper is to examine how and what the non-completing participants of MOOCs learn. In this paper we term them invisible learners. The paper presents a qualitative study of learning activities and outcomes of invisible learners. The study consists of 11 interviews with MOOC participants and a survey answered by 51 participants. The results of the study show that invisible learners learn by 1) reading and watching, 2) following and being part of, 3) networking, 4) reflecting and 5) applying. Further, the study shows that the learning outcomes of the invisible learners can be described as 1) inspiration, 2) update, and 3) input for practice. Invisible learners show signs of self-governance by choosing what is relevant to them, and initiating their own learning activities in relation to their own practice. The paper concludes that there are educational potentials of the activities of invisible learners. The study shows that the course format may not be suitable for invisible learners that do not wish to do assignments and follow specific learning objectives. Rather, the educational potential is to provide invisible learners with relevant input to their own practices. To accommodate invisible learners, the challenge is to design courses that provide input and inspiration to learners’ own practices without prescribing what they will learn.
Highlights
The objective of the paper is to examine how and what the non-completing participants – or what we term ‘invisible learners’ – learn in MOOCs
21.6% (n = 11) did not start the course. This pattern is very similar to other MOOCs: the vast majority do not complete the course
The educative potentials of invisible learners? As was intended by the course design, it can be argued that the developed MOOC established a community of inquiry between the visible learners, i.e. the group of participants who did the assignments, contributed with blog posts and participated in discussions
Summary
The objective of the paper is to examine how and what the non-completing participants – or what we term ‘invisible learners’ – learn in MOOCs (massive open online courses). These participants are often named ‘the dropout group’, or called lurkers, or inactive or disengaged students (Alexander and Fink, 2018). The largest group of MOOC participants drop out and do not complete the course, whereas a minority of the registered participants complete the courses (Jordan, 2014) This low completion rate is often highlighted as a major shortcoming of MOOCs, and much research has discussed how to increase the completion rates of MOOCs (Daniel, 2012; Clow, 2013; Simpson, 2013). The results of the study lead to a discussion of the challenges formats that entail a certain form of active participation
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