The recent growth of online education has been astounding. Last year, 35 million people signed up for at least one online college-level class. That’s more than double the previous year’s enrollment. The popularity of online learning is easy to understand. Today, students have access to well over 4,000 courses in a wide array of subjects, from chemistry to philosophy to graphic design. They participate at a time and place that suits their schedule. Many courses are free.
There is, however, a serious problem now keeping online education from reaching its full potential — low retention rates. About 90 percent of enrollees in “MOOCS” — short for “Massive Open Online Courses,” which have unlimited registration and are the most popular online education product — drop out within two weeks.
Tags: communication • e-learning • MOOC • Online Distribution • Pedagogical Format • pedagogy • Pedagogy of MOOCs