Author(s): Sayantan Khanra, Manikanta Budankayala and Surya Tej Doddi
The Covid-19 pandemic accelerates the enrolments on courses available on digital learning platforms, or Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC). However, many candidates are dropping out of these courses. This study aims to identify potential factors that motivate students to drop-out from online courses. A qualitative survey is conducted among such students. Data from the qualitative survey is analyzed following a Meta-ethnography approach. The study findings suggest that the factors affecting the students' adoption of MOOCs may be broadly classified into four groups that represent usage barrier, value barrier, tradition barrier, and image barrier, respectively. Findings from the metaethnographic study are validated with a focused group discussion. As the Covid-19 pandemic is irreversibly digitizing the learning processes, findings from this study offer important implications for educators offering online courses and managers of learning platforms.