ICEDL Net Promoter Scores (NPS) for MOOCs July 2018
1. Net Promoter Scores (NPS): A new
approach to evaluating MOOCs
International Conference on Education and Distance Learning (ICEDL) 2018
Nice, France
Dr. Kristin Palmer – kristin@virginia.edu
Dr. Christopher Devers - christopherdevers@gmail.com
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2. Who are we?
• Kristin Palmer is the Director of Online Learning Programs at the
University of Virginia
• Christopher Devers is Director of Lumen Research Institute and
Associate Professor at Indiana Wesleyan University
3. MOOCs were supposed to solve higher education
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5. One reason
cited for
MOOCs failure
are low
completion
rates
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6. Study Purpose
• This study looked at Net Promoter Scores (NPS)
• NPS is a method commonly used in business to evaluate customer
satisfaction
• Our question: Do low completion rates accurately reflect student
satisfaction with MOOCs?
• Our conclusion: Despite low completion rates, the MOOC studied had
a high NPS with 93% of participants indicating they were likely or
extremely likely to recommend this course to others.
7. Study Method
• Approximately 4,500 learners were sent an email requesting them to
complete a survey to evaluate their satisfaction with the MOOC
• 764 learners participated in the survey
• A Net Promoter Score (NPS) was calculated by the following formula:
Percent Promoters (1 on Likert Scale) – Percent Detractors (3, 4, or 5
on Likert Scale) = NPS
8. Study Results
• The Net Promoter Score was 56 (63% - 7% = 56)
• Learners reported that they took this course because of interest in
the content (n = 612) and to learn skills to advance their careers (n =
186)
• A majority of the learners indicated they have finished most of the
assignments (n = 453)
• 93% of learners are likely or extremely likely to recommend the
course to others
9. Recommendation
Consider more than just completion rates
when evaluating MOOC success. Net
Promoter Scores are a tool that could be
used to evaluate learner satisfaction.