Patterns of Persistence: What Engages Students in a Remedial English Writing MOOC?

John Whitmer, Ed.D.

California State University, Office of the Chancellor 401 Golden Shores Road Long Beach, California 90802, USA +1 (530) 554-1528

Eva Schiorring, MPP

Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges 2600 10th St # 435, Berkeley, California +1 (510) 559-9154

Pat James
Mt San Jacinto College 28237 La Piedra Road Menifee, CA 92584 +1 (951) 639-5440

jwhitmer@calstate.edu

eschiorring@rpgroup.org

pjames@msjc.edu

Categories and Subject Descriptors

K.3.1 [Computer Uses in Education]: Predictive applications of data

General Terms
Measurement, Human Factors

retention, an area that is currently the focus of substantial attention from government and private sector course in the United States. By examining how the use of MOOC-provided materials can a) improve student achievement in future traditional for-credit courses and b) de-couple the relationship between completion and student success, this research can advance our understanding of how MOOCs might change our perspective on conventional remedial educational resources and supports.

Keywords
Learning Analytics, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), Persistence, Retention, Higher Education, Under-Represented Minority Students, Language Learning

2. LITERATURE ON PERSISTENCE AND RETENTION

Research about student success in higher education is frequently studied through the lenses of retention and persistence. Although sometimes used interchangeably, these terms refer to different dynamics and measures of success, as stated by Reason (2009): Retention is an organizational phenomenon colleges and universities retain students ... [p]ersistence, on the other hand, is an individual phenomenon students persist to a goal. (p. 660). The data for retention studies is more readily available; institutions can easily track whether students returned annually or graduated. It is more difficult to measure whether that retention resulted in students meeting their goals for enrolling. These issues map to the discussion of student completion and success in MOOCs. Much attention has been given to MOOCs low student completion rates (course-level retention by Reasons definition). However, in contrast to conventional online or in-person courses, students have neither a financial barrier to entry nor the traditional negative consequence for not completing the course. Further, there is no cost to the institution for low completion. No student is refused enrollment for over-enrollment nor is there a cost for additional students. Empirical research on MOOCs is just beginning to emerge (Belanger & Thornton, 2013). A consistent outcome observed in this literature is a low completion rate compared to conventional higher education in-person or online courses (Jordan, 2013). It has been further noted that the students who do complete courses are primarily mid-career professionals who use MOOCs to enhance existing competencies created by participation in traditional educational modalities (Tsouvalas, 2013). Few MOOC courses to date have been offered on subjects relevant to students without a college degree. The Gates Foundation funded a set of courses in remedial education topics in November 2012 and the results from those courses are just now being reported. With such a limited history, there is little research available on how students engage with MOOC-delivered courses on these subjects. This project contributes to this emerging field

1. INTRODUCTION
MOOCs have the potential to help institutions and students needing remedial English language instruction in two ways. First, with their capacity to use a wide range of instructional approaches and to emphasize contextualized and visual learning, MOOCS can offer potentially more effective pedagogical approaches for remedial students. Second, if students increase success meeting college-level English competencies, MOOCS can help institutions and students conserve their limited resources. Similarly, MOOCs offer domestically and international employers opportunities to provide professional development to workers both in ways that are flexible, affordable and interactive. This poster will present the initial findings of research on a MOOC in Pre-College English writing that provides a context for how MOOCs can help to address these critical issues. Specifically, the poster will present research results on the "Crafting an Effective Writer: Tools of the Trade" course offered through the Coursera platform in Summer 2013. Sources that inform the research include MOOC logfile data documenting student participation with course resources and student responses to two surveys conducted at the beginning and end of the course. This research addresses issues in student persistence and
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by studying the only remedial writing course that was included in the Gates Foundation 2012 portfolio.

3. COURSE ENROLLMENT AND INTENTIONS

When first offered in May-June 2013, Crafting an Effective Writer had 45,089 enrollments, with 29,195 (65%) active participants in the course. Of the participants, 8,738 (30%) responded to an entry survey that provided more information about their backgrounds, motivations and goals for taking the course. Students chose motivation from a list of options created by researchers in collaboration with the faculty desigining the course. Although the responses to this survey are likely biased toward more active participants, they provide insights not available in logfile data. Unexpected by the course creators, 6,137 (59%) of the respondents were learning English as a Second Language and 5,179 (51%) of the students were not enrolled in formal educational institutions. Nonetheless, only 34% had not previously taken an online course. Most students expected to spend a substantial amount of time in the course, with 4,684 (44%) planning to spend from 4-6 hours, and 2,615 (25%) planning to spend more time studying. The motivation for spending that time is listed in Table 1 below; most students took the course to increase their success in their career with only one-third taking the course for other reasons. Academic success was the second strongest motivating factor for the respondents. Table 1. Motivations for Taking Course Motivation Jumpstart on College while in High School Prepare for Community College Assessment Test (haven't taken yet) Improve score on Community College Assessment Test (have already taken it) Support for Current Class Increase success in academic field Increase success in profession / career Freq. 84 425 263 364 3,403 6,762 % 1% 4% 2% 3% 32% 64%

background demographic factors or due to specific course design and participation issues that occurred early in the course. Further, it is not yet clear what learning outcomes emerged from this participation. These issues and more will be investigated in future research funded under the MOOC Research Initiative.

Figure 1. Participation Levels by Major Activities

5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Our thanks the Gates Foundation for funding the creation and initial research on this course and to Mt San Jacinto College for in-kind support. Additional recognition is due to the Gates Foundation and Athabasca University for leadership and funding provided to the MOOC Research Initiative that supports the present study.

6. REFERENCES
[1] Belanger, Yvonne, & Thornton, Jessica. (2013). Bioelectricity: A Quantitative Approach. Duke University's First MOOC. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University. [2] Jordan, Katy (Producer). (2013, 6/1/2013). MOOC Completion Rates: The Data. [Chart] Retrieved from http://www.katyjordan.com/MOOCproject.html [3] Reason, Robert D. (2009). An Examination of Persistence Research Through the Lens of a Comprehensive Conceptual Framework. Journal of College Student Development, 50(6), 659-682. [4] Tsouvalas, Dean (Producer). (2013, 6/9/2013). MOOCs: Born of technology, a perfect fit for IT learning. Computerworld. Retrieved from http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9240646/MOOCs_ Born_of_technology_a_perfect_fit_for_IT_learning?pageNu mber=1

4. COURSE PARTICIPATION
Despite these motivations for success and plans to complete the course, only 2,749 (6%) participants earned a certificate of completion. Participation levels decreased over time and also appeared to be related to the amount of effort required for activities; quizzes had a higher level of participation than assignment activities. Figure 1 displays the relative levels of participation in MOOC activities. Perhaps not surprising for a Pre-College writing course, the participants more frequently accessed video segments and learning activities with clear skill-building components; introductory videos and forum participation, which provide a sense of community and engagement but are not as directly related to learning new language skills, had lower overall use by students in the course. Questions raised by this participation is what factors were related to higher levels of student achievement, whether due to