Abstract
This paper uses data mining from a French project management MOOC to study learners’ performance (i.e., grades and persistence) based on a series of variables: age, educational background, socio-professional status, geographical area, gender, self- versus mandatory-enrollment, and learning intentions. Unlike most studies in this area, we focus on learners from the French-speaking world: France and French-speaking European countries, the Caribbean, North Africa, and Central and West Africa. Results show that the largest gaps in MOOC achievements occur between 1) learners from partner institutions versus self-enrolled learners 2) learners from European countries versus low- and middle-income countries, and 3) learners who are professionally active versus inactive learners (i.e., with available time). Finally, we used the CHAID data-mining method to analyze the main characteristics and discriminant factors of MOOC learner performance and dropout.
Highlights
Numerous studies have sought to understand who benefits most from MOOCs (Emanuel, 2013; Kizilcec, Pérez-Sanagustín, & Maldonado, 2017; Liyanagunawardena, Williams, & Adams, 2013; Selingo, 2014; Stump, Hilpert, Husman, Chung, & Kim, 2011), since their original promise was education everywhere and for everyone (Lane, 2013; Laurillard, 2014)
The analysis shows that region is the most discriminant factor of average grade and final exam score group membership (χ2 = 64.91; p < .001): France and French-speaking European participants (FFSE) participants are more present in Group 3 than French-speaking developing countries (FSDC) participants (58.00% and 35.60%, respectively), and FFSE participants are less present in Group 1 than FSDC participants (39.30% and 49.30%, respectively)
We found that the biggest gap in MOOC achievement, if we omit students who were forced to enroll in an institutional context, occurred between learners from European and low- and middle-income countries
Summary
Numerous studies have sought to understand who benefits most from MOOCs (Emanuel, 2013; Kizilcec, Pérez-Sanagustín, & Maldonado, 2017; Liyanagunawardena, Williams, & Adams, 2013; Selingo, 2014; Stump, Hilpert, Husman, Chung, & Kim, 2011), since their original promise was education everywhere and for everyone (Lane, 2013; Laurillard, 2014). In 2016, MOOCs in French were the second-most taught courses; and their principal audience, after France and Western French-speaking countries, was based in Africa (i.e., North Africa and French-speaking African countries; Noukakis, Escher, & Aebischer, 2016) and in the Caribbean (largely Haiti). Despite their expansion, MOOCs have not met initial expectations. Zhenghao et al (2015) found that learners from emerging countries report gaining more career and educational benefits from MOOCs than learners from high-income countries These learners sometimes complete modules to gain specific job skills with no reason to complete the entire MOOC. This is often the case with African participants (Noukakis et al, 2016)
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