First Year of the UQ Sustainable Energy MicroMasters Series: Evaluation of Participation and Achievement

Abstract

The University of Queensland’s (UQ) Sustainable Energy MicroMasters series was offered for the first time in 2018 on the edX platform. The MicroMasters series is comprised of four courses with a capstone assessment. When the courses closed in December 2018, a review was undertaken of the participation levels and achievement outcomes of participants in both the verified and audit enrollment modes. The total enrollment in all courses in the MicroMasters was 22,093. The proportion of participants who enrolled in the verified enrollment mode was less than 2.5% per course. The proportion of verified participants who passed (achieved 70% or higher in the final grade) ranged between 29–67%, with the more technical courses having the lower pass rates. A total of 134 course certificates were delivered to 95 participants enrolled in one or more of the four courses, with over three quarters of participants who received a course certificate only achieving one certificate. Verified participants take time to achieve four certificates which has implications for articulation to on-campus or external Master programs and first and second semester entry points. If MOOCs are to be part of a university’s delivery mode there will need to be a large increase in the number of students electing and paying to be part of the verified enrollment mode to justify the development costs and ongoing support required to run such a series. Changes to enrollment policies that affect verified enrollments, introduced by platform providers such as edX, will need to be monitored.