[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-589829-105":3,"doc-detail-589829-en":81,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":99},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","a-randomized-experiment-testing-the-efficacy-of-a-scheduling-nudge-in-a-massive-open-online-course-mooc-read-online","A Randomized Experiment Testing the Efficacy of a Scheduling Nudge in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) - read online","","Online education has high dropout: most students who start do not finish. This study reports results from a large-scale field experiment (N = 18,043) on a self-directed scheduling nudge introduced on the first day of a science-based MOOC. Random assignment produced no near-term engagement benefits and weakly significant negative long-term impacts on engagement, persistence, and performance, concentrated among students who registered close to the first day or used .edu email addresses.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/a-randomized-experiment-testing-the-efficacy-of-a-scheduling-nudge-in-a-massive-open-online-course-mooc-read-online/589829/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/a-randomized-experiment-testing-the-efficacy-of-a-scheduling-nudge-in-a-massive-open-online-course-mooc-read-online/589829.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Cipher","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-10","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",7,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What intervention does the study test in the MOOC?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"On the first day, a randomly selected subset of students is offered an opportunity to schedule when to watch the first lecture video, creating structure to guide future behavior.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How does the scheduling nudge affect student engagement and persistence?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Random assignment shows no effects on near-term engagement and weakly significant negative effects on longer-term engagement, persistence, and performance.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"Which students are most affected by the negative outcomes?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"The negative effects are highly concentrated among students who register close to the first day of class and among those with .edu email addresses.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},589829,1792211474,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",{"doc_id":79,"user_id":84,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":85,"doc_module":4,"category_id":86,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":87,"file_id":88,"file_url":89,"file_type":90,"file_size":91,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":92,"language":93,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":94,"faqs":95,"seo_title":96,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":97,"read_time":98,"preview_page_count":4},687208528416,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc",8,"AERA Open  \nOctober-December 2016, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 1–18 DOI: 10. 1177/2332858416674007 © The Author(s) 2016. [http://ero.sagepub.com](http://ero.sagepub.com)  \nA Randomized Experiment Testing the Efficacy of a Scheduling Nudge in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)  \nRachel Baker  \nUniversity of California, Irvine  \nBrent Evans  \nVanderbilt University  \nThomas Dee  \nStanford University  \nAn increasing number of students are taking classes offered online through open-access platforms; however, the vast majority of students who start these classes do not finish. The incongruence of student intentions and subsequent engagement suggests that self-control is a major contributor to this stark lack of persistence. This study presents the results of a large-scale field experiment (N = 18,043) that examines the effects of a self-directed scheduling nudge designed to promote student persistence in a massive open online course. We find that random assignment to treatment had no effects on near-term engagement and weakly significant negative effects on longer-term course engagement, persistence, and performance. Interestingly, these negative effects are highly concentrated in two groups of students: those who registered close to the first day of class and [those with .edu](those with .edu) e-mail addresses. We consider several explanations for these findings and conclude that theoretically motivated interventions may interact with the diverse motivations of individual students in possibly unintended ways.  \nKeywords: educational policy, experimental research, higher education, postsecondary education, technology  \nMotivated by concerns about low persistence in online higher education, researchers and policy makers have called for strategies to increase student engagement in online courses. This paper examines the effects of an inexpensive, scalable, easily implemented, and theoretically grounded intervention aimed to increase persistence. On the first day of a science-based massive open online course (MOOC), a randomly selected subset of students was offered the opportunity to schedule when to watch the first lecture video. This scheduling nudge, grounded in recent work on commitment devices from behavioral economics, provided students with the opportunity to create structure within the online course as a way to guide their future behavior.  \nThree stylized facts motivate this study. (a) Postsecondary students are increasingly earning college credit from multiple sources and institutions: traditional 2- and 4-year schools and in-person and online courses offered both through accredited universities and through open-access platforms (including MOOCS; Andrews, Li, & Lovenheim, 2014; McCormick, 2003) . (b) Whereas rates of college attendance have increased dramatically over the past 40 years, rates of persistence and completion have not shown a similar rise, especially disadvantaging those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds (Bailey & Dynarski, 2011) .  \n(c) As more classes become asynchronous and increasing numbers of students attend school part-time, time management and other meta-academic skills have become an important contributor to low levels of completion (Hill, 2002; Roper, 2007) .  \nOnline classes have become an important part of the higher education landscape and open-access courses provided by third-party nontraditional sources are a large and growing component of this phenomenon. Over the last decade, MOOCs have grown from a few courses offered by individual instructors to an enormous enterprise incorporating hundreds of the world’s top universities and multiple platforms. With tens of thousands of students enrolling in each of the hundreds of courses available, tens of millions of students have accessed MOOCs globally. Although the majority of MOOC users are not seeking official college credit, there are several pathways through which students can receive college credit or other valuable certifications. Udacity offers nanode","cbCaimCb8dsnc5b2","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaimCb8dsnc5b2","pdf",607703,18,"English","# Study overview\n## Intervention design and implementation\n## Key findings on engagement and persistence\n## Possible explanations and implications\n# Background: MOOC persistence and time management","[{\"question\":\"What intervention does the study test in the MOOC?\",\"answer\":\"On the first day, a randomly selected subset of students is offered an opportunity to schedule when to watch the first lecture video, creating structure to guide future behavior.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the scheduling nudge affect student engagement and persistence?\",\"answer\":\"Random assignment shows no effects on near-term engagement and weakly significant negative effects on longer-term engagement, persistence, and performance.\"},{\"question\":\"Which students are most affected by the negative outcomes?\",\"answer\":\"The negative effects are highly concentrated among students who register close to the first day of class and among those with .edu email addresses.\"}]","A Randomized Experiment Testing the Efficacy of a Scheduling Nudge in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) - read online | PDF",1792068213,45,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":100},[101,105,109,113,118,123,127,130,135,138,142],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":114,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":115,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":119,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":125,"slug":126},"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":86,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":128,"slug":129},30,"research-report",{"id":131,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":132,"show_sort_weight":133,"slug":134},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":133,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":136,"show_sort_weight":133,"slug":137},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":139,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":140,"show_sort_weight":139,"slug":141},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":143,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":144,"show_sort_weight":114,"slug":145},19,"General","general"]