Choice Hacking

How COURSERA made education (ethically) addictive

Episode Summary

In 2012, two Stanford University professors, Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller, recognized the potential of online learning to democratize higher education. So, they created Coursera, now one of the largest online learning platforms in the world with 148 million registered users. Like many online education platforms Coursera’s biggest struggle was with low course completion rates. A study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that online courses only have a 4% retention rate, on average. But Coursera’s paid course completion rate is an astonishing 55.4% - that’s 1285% higher than average online course platforms. How did they do it? With a bit of behavioral science and psychology of course - applied consciously or not - to their user experience.

Episode Notes

Thank you for listening to the Choice Hacking podcast! 

Please take 2 minutes to rate and review the podcast because it helps us find new listeners. 

Here are some more resources you might enjoy:

Find Jen Clinehens and Choice Hacking online: INSTAGRAM/TWITTER/THREADS/LINKEDIN/TIKTOK/YOUTUBE: @choicehacking

Join my free newsletter to learn what makes your buyers tick. 

Buy my book (or audiobook), "Choice Hacking: How to use psychology and behavioral science to create an experience that sings"

👉 Join our popular Pro Membership to get $12k+ worth of value in your first year alone (for a one-time fee).