TY  - GEN
A1  - Serth, Sebastian
A1  - Staubitz, Thomas
A1  - van Elten, Martin
A1  - Meinel, Christoph
ED  - Gamage, Dilrukshi
T1  - Measuring the effects of course modularizations in online courses for life-long learners
T2  - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Reihe der Digital Engineering Fakultät
N2  - Many participants in Massive Open Online Courses are full-time employees seeking greater flexibility in their time commitment and the available learning paths. We recently addressed these requirements by splitting up our 6-week courses into three 2-week modules followed by a separate exam. Modularizing courses offers many advantages: Shorter modules are more sustainable and can be combined, reused, and incorporated into learning paths more easily. Time flexibility for learners is also improved as exams can now be offered multiple times per year, while the learning content is available independently. In this article, we answer the question of which impact this modularization has on key learning metrics, such as course completion rates, learning success, and no-show rates. Furthermore, we investigate the influence of longer breaks between modules on these metrics. According to our analysis, course modules facilitate more selective learning behaviors that encourage learners to focus on topics they are the most interested in. At the same time, participation in overarching exams across all modules seems to be less appealing compared to an integrated exam of a 6-week course. While breaks between the modules increase the distinctive appearance of individual modules, a break before the final exam further reduces initial interest in the exams. We further reveal that participation in self-paced courses as a preparation for the final exam is unlikely to attract new learners to the course offerings, even though learners' performance is comparable to instructor-paced courses. The results of our long-term study on course modularization provide a solid foundation for future research and enable educators to make informed decisions about the design of their courses.
T3  - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Reihe der Digital Engineering Fakultät - 17 
KW  - Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)
KW  - course design
KW  - modularization
KW  - learning path
KW  - flexibility
KW  - e-learning
KW  - assignments
KW  - self-paced learning
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-589182
IS  - 17
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Serth, Sebastian
A1  - Staubitz, Thomas
A1  - van Elten, Martin
A1  - Meinel, Christoph
ED  - Gamage, Dilrukshi
T1  - Measuring the effects of course modularizations in online courses for life-long learners
JF  - Frontiers in Education
N2  - Many participants in Massive Open Online Courses are full-time employees seeking greater flexibility in their time commitment and the available learning paths. We recently addressed these requirements by splitting up our 6-week courses into three 2-week modules followed by a separate exam. Modularizing courses offers many advantages: Shorter modules are more sustainable and can be combined, reused, and incorporated into learning paths more easily. Time flexibility for learners is also improved as exams can now be offered multiple times per year, while the learning content is available independently. In this article, we answer the question of which impact this modularization has on key learning metrics, such as course completion rates, learning success, and no-show rates. Furthermore, we investigate the influence of longer breaks between modules on these metrics. According to our analysis, course modules facilitate more selective learning behaviors that encourage learners to focus on topics they are the most interested in. At the same time, participation in overarching exams across all modules seems to be less appealing compared to an integrated exam of a 6-week course. While breaks between the modules increase the distinctive appearance of individual modules, a break before the final exam further reduces initial interest in the exams. We further reveal that participation in self-paced courses as a preparation for the final exam is unlikely to attract new learners to the course offerings, even though learners' performance is comparable to instructor-paced courses. The results of our long-term study on course modularization provide a solid foundation for future research and enable educators to make informed decisions about the design of their courses.
KW  - Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)
KW  - course design
KW  - modularization
KW  - learning path
KW  - flexibility
KW  - e-learning
KW  - assignments
KW  - self-paced learning
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.1008545
SN  - 2504-284X
VL  - 7
PB  - Frontiers
CY  - Lausanne, Schweiz
ER  -