Skip to content
Close
  • About Owen Youngman
  • About ‘the next miracle’
  • Massively open (links about my MOOC)
  • Idiosyncrasies
  • 1994: ‘You won’t be alone’: Predicting the future
  • 2006: How we all got digital
    • 2016: How we all got digital (cont.)
  • 2006: Through a glass, darkly: the media in 2010 (from the vantages of 2004 and ’06)
  • 2009: Adventures in paid content
  • 2009: How America was 2-1-3’d
  • 2009: The ambiguity is inherent
  • 2010: “All passes. Art alone endures.”
  • 2011: The meaty sizzle of a 21st Century brand
  • 2011: In the land of the jólabókaflóðið
  • 2012: RedEye turns 10. How did it happen?
  • 2012: Sliding away
  • 2013: The world – – well, the Web – – #throughglass
  • 2015: Google Glass and Apple Watch, compared

The next miracle (v11.2): Owen Youngman

A media life, 1969 – 2022

A media life, 1969 – 2022

Menu

The MOOC-ing finger writes, and then updates the data

September 5, 2013

How do you usually think of Google?

What the upcoming MOOC “Understanding Media by Understanding Google” is, in a way, all about.

Back in April I posted some charts and data from an optional survey presented to students who enroll in my Coursera MOOC, “Understanding Media by Understanding Google.” At that early juncture–I had yet to videotape a single lecture–about 13,000 people had signed up; shortly thereafter, enrollment was paused until we set a firm start date.

Now we’re just 10 days or so away from the Sept. 16 launch, a fine time to update both the registration total (40,000) and the high-level research (3,000 respondents, up from 1,001 all those months ago). Has anything changed as the enrollment has grown, and as the number of people with Coursera accounts has touched 4 million?

Not surprisingly, we can answer both “yes” and “no.” In the “no” category, many of the numbers are so similar I won’t even bother to recreate the graphics. (The pie chart above is one that I didn’t include last time.) To wit:

  • About the same percentage of respondents has never taken a MOOC before (57% of the first thousand, 56% of the entire sample).
  • About the same percentage of people classify themselves as “geeks” or “Internet experts”–47% then, 48% now. (A self-reported geek says that “my friends turn to me first for help with problems,” while a self-reported expert says “I always know what I’m doing” online.)
  • When asked “Where do you learn about the world?”, the rank of six possible media choices didn’t change: The Web (2,821 out of 3,000), books (1,737), TV (1,638), newspapers (1,577), magazines (1,278), and radio (999). (They’re readers!)

The differences come in the reasons that were cited for taking this course. I asked students to rate the importance of several criteria on a scale from “very important” to “not important.” The raw numbers are interesting enough, but more tellingly, some of the proportions shifted meaningfully over the course of the survey.

What follows are the percentages of the first 1,001 students; of the next 1,999 students; and then of all 3,000 who ranked each item as either “very important” or “quite important.”

Relative importance, April vs. August

How important was the following factor when you chose to enroll? "Very" or "quite" important: First 1,001 "Very" or "quite" important: Next 1,999 "Very" or "quite" important: All 3,000
The subject is relevant to my academic field
33.6%36.0%35.2%
I'm curious about online courses31.1%45.1%40.4%
I want to earn a credential for my CV / résumé33.7%48.4%43.5%
It's offered by a prestigious university35.3%45.4%42.0%
The class teaches ideas that will help my job / career66.5%71.1%69.6%
I want a different perspective on a subject I'm interested in75.1%74.5%75.1%

Here, then, is what I infer about the three biggest shifts between the first cohort and the second. In the interest of alliteration, let’s call them Curiosity, Credentialing, and Class:

  • Curiosity: As the population of Coursera account holders grows beyond the early adopters, the percentage who cite this as highly important quite logically will grow, too. 
  • Credentialing: As the acceptance of MOOCs as a form of continuing education grows, the possibility of achieving something that’s worth putting on a résumé starts to loom larger.
  • Class: As the number of universities offering MOOCs grows, students can start to apply criteria other than mere availability to their choices, making the chance to take one from “a prestigious university” more of a factor.

Your mileage may vary. Does it? Either way, perhaps I’ll see you in class. There’s room.

Share this:

  • Share
  • Email
  • Pinterest
  • Print
  • Twitter
  • Reddit
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr
  • Facebook

About Owen Youngman

Professor Emeritus of Journalism and formerly Knight Chair in Digital Media Strategy, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University. Formerly senior vice president/strategy and development and director of interactive media, Chicago Tribune.
View all posts by Owen Youngman →

Post navigation

  • ← So what are you seeing in your Google Glass?
  • Hearing MOOC-steps, worldwide →

Recently on “The next miracle”

  • Miracle on Michigan Avenue, 1971 September 3, 2021
  • 25 years of the Internet Tribune March 13, 2021
  • Half a lifetime ago in Chicago October 24, 2016
  • 20 years on, and the river runs to us July 2, 2016
  • When Jack Fuller spoke (and wrote), people listened June 22, 2016

A few 'greatest hits,' 1994-2021

  • 1994: 'You won't be alone' : Predicting the future
  • 2006: How we all got digital
  • 2006: How we all got digital, II (slideshow)
  • 2006: Through a glass, darkly
  • 2009: Adventures in paid content
  • 2009: How America was 2-1-3'd
  • 2009: The ambiguity is inherent
  • 2010: "All passes. Art alone endures."
  • 2011: The meaty sizzle of a 21st Century brand
  • 2012: RedEye turns 10
  • 2012: Sliding away
  • 2013: The world — well, the Web — #throughglass
  • 2015: Google Glass and Apple Watch, compared
  • 2016: Click here to say "Happy birhtday"

Interesting ideas: a blogroll

  • Bill Swislow
  • David Warsh
  • Kurt Fliegel

Var står det skrivet?

  • Evangelical Covenant Church
  • Libertyville Covenant Church
  • North Park University
  • Pietisten

Video

  • 2008: Interview with Garry Wills
  • 2009: Chicago Tonight appearance to mull media economics, or lack of same
  • 2009: Extension 720 panel on the then-current state of digital news (excerpt)
  • 2010: Chicago Tonight appearance in re: Tribune Company turmoil
  • 2010: Panel with Nicholas Carr, Jack Fuller, Tom Bissell
  • 2011: Interview with Martin Marty
  • 2012: Interview with Steven Levy (requires Microsoft Silverlight)
  • 2012: Knight Chairs annual meeting
  • 2013: "Chicago Tonight" looks at my MOOC

Through the years with “The next miracle”

Categories

Idiosyncrasies, etc.

  • About ‘the next miracle’
  • About Owen Youngman
  • chicago.tribune.com 10th anniversary gallery
  • Idiosyncrasies
  • Massively open (links about my MOOC)

Search this site

· © 2023 The next miracle (v11.2): Owen Youngman · Powered by · Designed with the Customizr theme ·

 

Loading Comments...