Persistence, performance, and goal setting in massive open online courses
Abstract
Goal setting is an important component in successful teaching and learning, but relatively
little is known about its impact on course persistence and achievement in massive
open online courses. Using an experimental design and employing a variety of data
including student writings, content-related assignment attempts, and quantitative
achievement in the courses, we compared the outcomes of two groups of learners who
were given different writing prompts at the beginning of their course. While no overall
effects of writing prompt type on the dependent variables were observed, highly statistically
significant differences were found when goal writings were more closely examined and
compared via qualitative coding. When learners’ written responses to prompts contained
either learning or performance goals, those participants both achieved more and engaged
in learning longer than participants whose written responses did not fall into either
of these categories. Practitioner notes What is already known about this topic Goals
are related to students’ behaviors and performance. Performance goals’ influences
on learning have inconsistent results, while learning goals are considered beneficial.
What this paper adds The effects of conscious goal setting in massive open online
courses (MOOCs) may be different from traditional learning contexts. Having either
learning and performance goals results in better persistence and performance than
not having these goals. Implications for practice and/or policy More interventions
should be designed to help MOOC learners set and commit to their goals. Use MOOC learner's
learning and performance goals to promote learning and persistence.
Type
Journal articlePermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/24748Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1111/bjet.13068Publication Info
Li, K; Johnsen, J; & Canelas, DA (2021). Persistence, performance, and goal setting in massive open online courses. British Journal of Educational Technology, 52(3). pp. 1215-1229. 10.1111/bjet.13068. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/24748.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
Collections
More Info
Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Dorian Canelas
Associate Professor of the Practice of Chemistry
Prof. Canelas has been active in implementation of student-centered pedagogies and
developing programs to increase undergraduate retention in science tracks. Research
interests include chemical education research and the scholarship of teaching and
learning as well as macromolecules for industrial and biological applications, such
as microelectronics, coatings, membranes, gene therapy delivery, and blood compatibility.

Articles written by Duke faculty are made available through the campus open access policy. For more information see: Duke Open Access Policy
Rights for Collection: Scholarly Articles
Works are deposited here by their authors, and represent their research and opinions, not that of Duke University. Some materials and descriptions may include offensive content. More info