"Will a MOOC Get You Hired? An RCT Testing Perceptions of Educational Credentials on Hiring"

American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting
Theme: Leveraging Educational Research in a “Post-Truth” Era: Multimodal Narratives to Democratize Evidence
Toronto, Canada
April 5-9, 2019

Title: Will a MOOC Get You Hired? An RCT Testing Perceptions of Educational Credentials on Hiring (Paper)
Event: Examining the Efficiency of High Education Policy
Authors: Mariela Janet Rivas, Rachel Baker, Brent Joseph Evans

Abstract: Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are a relatively new way of offering postsecondary education and training. Students take MOOCs for a variety of reasons, but many seek out these courses to further their career. However, little is known about the empirical effects of such credentials in the labor market. Our study begins to fill that gap by estimating the effect of a MOOC credential on the likelihood of being hired in a hypothetical scenario. Specifically, we compare the effect of having a Coursera 5-Course Specialization in web design to the effect of having a CC certificate, AA, or BA in web design on being the preferred candidate for a freelance job. We find all traditional credentials are preferred to MOOCs.