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The recognition, accreditation and certification of MOOCs may be defined in many different ways, but generally refers to establishing a set of arrangements to make visible and value all learning outcomes (incl. knowledge, skills and competence) against clearly defined and quality-assured standards (Yang, 2016). Proper recognition and accreditation procedures and certification can offer an educational solution for those who are not in a traditional setting, they can constitute an opportunity of virtual mobility or simply provide a chance of re-skilling or up-skilling employees. However, the adequate usage of those processes is yet to become a reality.
Key Issues
A large number of MOOC providers as well as researchers are highlighting the need for a solution for the withdraw/dropout rate of MOOCs. It is acknowledged that dropout rates of this kind of courses are comparatively high (Koutropoulos et al., 2012). A MOOC offered by Coursera in 2012, on Functional Programming Principles in Scala, registered a completion rate of 19.2% (Jordan, 2013). Nevertheless, it must be stated that the majority of MOOCs have completion rates of less than 10% and little is known about the experiences of non-completing MOOC participants (Koutropoulos et al., 2012).
Motivation has been identified as an important contributor to student engagement in a MOOC (Milligan et al., 2013; Milligan et al., 2016). What can motivate people to engage in MOOCs? Individual motivation can go from the desire to achieve an academic credential at a reduced cost, personal enrichment, up to self-satisfaction (Liyanagunawardena, Adams and Williams, 2013). It must be underlined that having updated information about the actual motivations in place would be valuable, among others, for the design of MOOCs.
According to Milligan et al. (2016), while high self-regulator students establish specific goals related to the course content, the effect on their professional needs and the structure of their learning around the development of content knowledge and expertise (Pintrich, 1999), low self-regulators focus more on their passion for learning, curiosity, or desire to broaden their knowledge. The range of motivation is reflected by the goals set (Zheng et al., 2015; White et al., 2015). Moreover, high self-regulators are pursuing the extension of their knowledge and expertise to benefit their current or future roles independently if they were intending to complete the course, or if the study process was planned more strategically. On the opposite, low-self regulators are not focusing the learning, but mainly their performance, looking for the completition of the course. In this case, the recognition of MOOCs and their accreditation could be a more valuable source of motivation than for high self-regulators.
Policy Debates
Together with monetization, recognition/certification is one of the most divisive aspects of MOOC. In fact, the accreditation process opens the door towards an income source at t