Skip to main content
About HEC About HEC Faculty & Research Faculty & Research Master’s programs Master’s programs MBA Programs MBA Programs PhD Program PhD Program Executive Education Executive Education Summer School Summer School HEC Online HEC Online About HEC Overview Overview Who
We Are Who
We Are
Egalité des chances Egalité des chances HEC Talents HEC Talents International International Campus
Life Campus
Life
Sustainability Sustainability Diversity
& Inclusion Diversity
& Inclusion
Stories Stories The HEC
Foundation The HEC
Foundation
Coronavirus Coronavirus
Faculty & Research Overview Overview Faculty Directory Faculty Directory Departments Departments Centers Centers Chairs Chairs Knowledge Knowledge Master’s programs Master in
Management Master in
Management
Master in
International Finance Master in
International Finance
MS
& Masters MS
& Masters
Ecole Polytechnique
-HEC programs Ecole Polytechnique
-HEC programs
Dual-Degree
programs Dual-Degree
programs
Exchange
students Exchange
students
Certificates Certificates Student
Life Student
Life
MBA Programs MBA MBA Executive MBA Executive MBA TRIUM EMBA TRIUM EMBA PhD Program Overview Overview HEC Difference HEC Difference Program details Program details Research areas Research areas HEC Community HEC Community Placement Placement Job Market Job Market Admissions Admissions Financing Financing Executive Education Executive Masters Executive Masters Executive Certificates Executive Certificates Executive short programs Executive short programs Online Online Companies Companies Executive MBA Executive MBA Infinity Pass Infinity Pass Summer School Youth Programs Youth Programs Summer programs Summer programs HEC Online Overview Overview Degree Program Degree Program Executive certificates Executive certificates MOOCs MOOCs Summer Programs Summer Programs

Article

MOOCs and the Promise of Continuous Personalized Feedback: What Research Says

Embracing digital in business education
Published on:

Can we address MOOCs’ low completion rate? Find how in this interview with Xitong Li, Associate Professor at HEC Paris, whose research focuses on how information or digital strategies can address new challenges.

MOOC on tablet - adobe stock

©Thodonal on Adobe Stock

A massive open online course (MOOC) is open to anyone. They are very popular in the US, France, Europe, and China. However, MOOCs are also facing insufficient participation and completion, mainly because learners struggle against procrastination. It’s a widely observed phenomenon. 

How could your research face the learners’ insufficient participation to MOOCs?

In our research, we categorize the motivations of the learners to complete the MOOC, in order to convert motivation to action. Through experimentations, we compare different types of strategies to motivate students: simple digital tools, social norms and financial incentives.

  1. Simple tools: call to action messages, reminders, deadline prompts.
     
  2. In terms of social norms, our approach is to give the prospects feedback with rankings relative to the other learners. We're working on Chinese learners with the Chinese equivalent of Coursera. We look at the ranking and we tell learners their rankings, privately or publicly, so they can compare them to the other learners. Private ranking is more effective for self-improvement, vs public, better for self-esteem, where the image management is dominant. We want to compare the effects of self-efficacy and evaluation on the learners’ capacity, and comparative feedback with the other learners.
     
  3. Finally, we give monetary incentives with financial awards.

 

We want to compare the effects of self-efficacy and evaluation on the learners’ capacity, and comparative feedback with the other learners. 

Xitong Li HEC

 

 

We study and compare randomized groups of learners, using or not using those strategies, to see which ones are more effective, and to know what motivates learners and employees to participate in order to improve the online course completion rate.

This research would have impact on MOOC platforms, but also on online education in general, including all online courses and digital learning. This research has received a grant from ANR France (Agence Nationale de la Recherche in France, equivalent to National Science Foundation in the U.S.) for three years (2018-2020).

 

You also plan to make more effective videos for online courses at HEC Paris

Yes. I'm now working with Senior Digital Learning Project Manager Ashraf Akbar to develop a research project specifically based on HEC online courses. In this project, we are going to explore different design strategies for course videos. The objective is to know whether and how the position of the professor in the course videos has impact on the learning. It’s the first time that research has been done to answer this question.

At the end, the results would help HEC produce more effective videos for online courses.

This article is based on an interview with Xitong Li on his current research with Nina Huang, Jiayin Zhang, Gordon Burtch, and Peiyu Chen: "Combating Procrastination on MOOCs via Optimal Calls to Action" (published in Information Systems Research in February 2021).

Related content on Embracing digital in business education

online education
Embracing digital in business education

Embracing Digital Innovation in Business Education - The HEC Paris Experience

By Marc Vanhuele

Pierre Dussauge MOOC vignette
Embracing digital in business education

How Online Learning Changed my Teaching Methods

Information Systems

Robots Can Improve Student Learning, But Can’t Replace Teachers

By Sangseok You

MOOC HEC
Embracing digital in business education

What Do We Teach Online? A Story of Continuous Innovation

Embracing digital in business education

How Does Technology Transform Business Education and the Learner’s Experience?

Pascale Defline
Embracing digital in business education

A Successful Flipped Classroom Experiment