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Considering the horrendous dropout rates of most MOOC platforms this might be a very good way to incentivize students to "keep at it".

I don't think a high drop rate for MOOCs is a problem in the slightest. They should be evaluated like any other funnel on the web, where even 1% can be a good completion rate, rather than like paid lecture courses.

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The dropout rate in higher education is a big problem because the marginal cost is high for each student (e.g classroom space, heating, cooling, electricity, parking, etc). The marginal cost for each additional MOOC student is almost zero so it doesn't really matter if there's a high dropout rate.

Yeah, re: the dropout rate, I think registering for a MOOC is more like browsing a book than registering for a college class. If I get through week 3 or 4 and take a midterm, then I find I tend to stick with the MOOC and finish it.

Without that momentum, it gets saved for later and I sometimes return to browse the content long after the class ends. More like a book.

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