As a university teacher, I took charge of several large, mandatory courses with an online format to cater to a considerable student population. One such course even had annual registrations around a thousand. The courses were initially moved online due to its ability to support large student numbers and offer flexible and accessible learning through extensive teaching resources. However, a high dropout rate posed a major challenge for these online courses. As these were mandatory courses, students who dropped out had to re-enroll in the subsequent terms, further inflating the intake numbers.
While I had completed numerous pedagogical courses as a part of my employment agreement, they inadequately addressed the issue of high dropout rates in online learning. To bridge this gap, I decided to attend the “Open Networked Learning” course offered by Aalto University. Before this, I had used multiple ‘Plan, Apply, Check, Act’ (PACA) cycles – a continuous improvement tool for process enhancements – to improve the course design and organization, which somewhat lowered the dropout rates. My main objective for attending this course was to deepen my pedagogical knowledge, understand the root cause of the high dropout rate better, and possibly enhance the learning outcomes for my students.
The course surprised me initially by its focus on problem-based learning using the FISh (Focus-Investigate-Share) model, considering it was attended by global educational professionals. But this approach seemed justifiable as we delved deeper. The course started by discussing the reasons for hesitations toward completing online courses, touching upon aspects like identity representation in online interfaces. I found myself particularly interested in the motivational factors influencing such decisions. I looked into the “Uses and Gratification Theory” known for uncovering motivations behind media consumption choices and observed its relevance to online media consumption. I found the links between the Expectancy-Value Theory of motivation and decision-making intriguing. The realization that participation in online platforms could decrease due to self-efficacy concerns and the perceived value of outcomes not meeting expectations was insightful.
The course then moved on to the benefits of openness in the educational context, collaborative learning’s advantages, and the role of course design in student persistence. While these subjects could be viewed from various perspectives, I decided to keep examining them from a motivational standpoint. A significant hurdle to the wide adoption of online and open educational practices appears to be “digital burnout”. This stems from a lack of skills, self-efficacy concerns, and struggle with emotional regulation. So, while considering open educational practices, the motivation levels of both teachers and students must be kept in mind. Students and teachers likely discontinue the activity if they do not receive adequate guidance on utilizing and gaining from open educational practices and thus, lose motivation.
Another question that arose was how to foster collaboration in online platforms to reduce dropout rates. The FISh model greatly assisted in facilitating mechanisms for collaborative learning, like knowledge elicitation and grounding, thus heightening gratification. This leads to a sustainable decision cycle pushing task completion as shown below.
The key take-away from this diagram is the importance of setting achievable goals at the onset of any task. Otherwise, the obtained gratification can fall short of the desired expectations, which then leads to a decision to drop out. Hence, online courses should be structured to reflect the shared understanding of course objectives among the target audience and organizers. Every element of the course, from the overall structure down to individual sections and activities, should have clear outcomes. If these are not in place, the persistence of participants is guided by their goal orientation and self-determination when factors outside of their control emerge.
To sum up, the shift to online learning comes with a unique set of challenges and opportunities as explained in the course on open networked learning. My critical takeaway is the crucial role of clarity, achievable goals, and an aligned understanding across all stakeholders in promoting student persistence. The successful shift to effective online and open educational practices requires maintaining motivation, providing sufficient resources, and integrating well-defined strategies and methodologies comprehensively. In particular, institutional support for both teachers and students is paramount. Hence, as our understanding of online pedagogy grows, these considerations will remain integral to ensuring quality education in the digital era.