Abstract:

The development of the digital age has affected the flexibility of the teaching-learning process, such as the rapid rise of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), which become a new promise in the educational sector. However, despite its simplicity and popularity, the dropout phenomenon has become a new concern, mainly in higher education. Most of the enrolled students in higher education do not complete the courses, leaving the potential of MOOCs perplexed. Therefore, in response to this case, this paper explored the dropout phenomenon to unravel the main factors of the underlying paradox using a comprehensive literature-based method and analysis.

As a result, this study revealed two main factors of dropout related to the learner aspects, such as motivation, personal satisfaction, time constraints and inadequate background knowledge. Likewise, other factors related to contextual elements within MOOCs include design interface, instructional designs, and assessment methods. This study offers a holistic approach of learning to mitigate those dropout paradoxes. On a final note, the significance of this study is not only discovered those dropout factors but also navigated a comprehensive framework to tackle the issue and unlocked the potential of MOOCs as an accessible learning media in higher education.

Keywords: dropout, factors, higher education, moocs,