- potential students must know that the MOOC exists

Awareness in the funnel of participation

- of the students who are aware, a small number of them will actually sign up and wish to excel in the course

Registration in the funnel of participation

 - a small fraction of these registered students will participate in an activity of some sort relating to the MOOC

Activity in the funnel of participation

- an even smaller percentage will go on to make meaningful learning progress

Progress in the funnel of participation

Note: "The drop off at each stage is large."


University of California, Davis

Inspired by the commonly used "purchase funnel" in marketing and sales, the author suggests that a funnel of participation exists in MOOCs. The marketing model tries to trace a customer's journey in 4 stages- awareness, interest, desire, and action whereas the participation model tracks an online user's journey through awareness, registration, activity, and progress. They suggest the funnel of participation is a very real phenomena in MOOCs and can explain and predict the reasons for steep dropout rates and unequal participation patterns. 

MOOCs and the funnel of participation

Clow, Doug (2013). MOOCs and the funnel of participation. In: Third Conference on Learning Analytics and
Knowledge (LAK 2013), 8-12 Apr 2013, Leuven, Belgium, pp. 185–189.

Learn Before

Related

Learn After