MOOCs are failing to democratise education, but can be improved
A study published in Science by John D. Hansen based on the socioeconomic status neighbourhood data of about 164,198 massive open online course (MOOC) participants, found the affluent are more likely to enrol in and complete the courses. Each increase of $20,000 in neighbourhood median income increased the likelihood of course participation by 27%, and each additional year of neighbourhood-average educational attainment the same effect with 69%. While MOOCs do not yet seem to be achieving the original goal of democratising education, the New York Times reports Mr. Hansen believes MOOCs can be redesigned or adapted to be more appealing and accessible to lower-income users.

Free online educational courses may not be democratizing education as much as proponents believe, a new study reports.

John D. Hansen, a doctoral student at Harvard University’s School of Education, and his colleagues looked at registration and completion patterns in 68 massive open online courses, or MOOCs, offered by Harvard and M.I.T. The data covered 164,198 participants aged 13 to 69.

In a study published in the journal Science, Mr. Hansen and his colleagues reported that people living in more affluent neighborhoods were more likely to register and complete MOOCs. Each increase of $20,000 in neighborhood median income raised the odds of participation in a MOOC by 27 percent, the researchers found.

Yet the vast majority of MOOC participants are not the very affluent, who are comparatively small in number. Mr. Hansen said that it ought to be possible to adapt or redesign online courses so that they are more appealing and accessible to lower-income people.