Follow the successful crowd

Follow the successful crowd: Raising MOOC completion rates through social comparison at scale

Davis, D.J. (TU Delft Web Information Systems)
Jivet, I. (Open University of the Netherlands)
Kizilcec, René F. (Stanford University)
Chen, G. (TU Delft Web Information Systems)
Hauff, C. (TU Delft Web Information Systems)
Houben, G.J.P.M. (TU Delft Web Information Systems)

2017

Social comparison theory asserts that we establish our social and personal worth by comparing ourselves to others. In in-person learning environments, social comparison offers students critical feedback on how to behave and be successful. By contrast, online learning environments afford fewer social cues to facilitate social comparison. Can increased availability of such cues promote effective self-regulatory behavior and achievement in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)? We developed a personalized feedback system that facilitates social comparison with previously successful learners based on an interactive visualization of multiple behavioral indicators. Across four randomized controlled trials in MOOCs (overall N = 33, 726), we find: (1) the availability of social comparison cues significantly increases completion rates, (2) this type of feedback benefits highly educated learners, and (3) learners' cultural context plays a significant role in their course engagement and achievement.

Cultural differences
Feedback
Framing
Learning analytics
Massive open online course
Social comparison

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:d3974002-61b5-4eee-99a0-e5ab5e73c30f

https://doi.org/10.1145/3027385.3027411

Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), New York, NY

978-1-4503-4870-6

LAK 2017 Conference Proceedings of the 7th International Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference

LAK 2017, 2017-03-13 → 2017-03-17, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Institutional Repository

conference paper

© 2017 D.J. Davis, I. Jivet, René F. Kizilcec, G. Chen, C. Hauff, G.J.P.M. Houben