College-level courses distributed free online have much more to do before they achieve their proponents’ hopes of eliminating economic, geographic, racial and gender barriers to higher education, according to a University of Pennsylvania study published Wednesday.
The university surveyed nearly 35,000 students from more than 200 countries and territories who participated in the 32 massive open online courses, or MOOCs, it distributes through Coursera, the largest provider of the free courses. Researchers found that most of the students were already well educated, and most were young men looking for new skills to advance their careers.
More than 80% of the U.S.-based students, for example, already had a college degree, compared with about 30% of the general U.S. population. Across the board, Penn’s MOOC students already far exceeded average educational standards in their countries, the study said.
The economic elite are often first adopters of new technologies, particularly on the Internet. The study found that the “educational disparity is particularly stark” in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, where almost 80% of the MOOC students came from the wealthiest 6% of the population.