As part of a larger research project into massively open online courses (MOOCs), we have investigated student background, as well as student participation in a physics MOOC with a laboratory component. Students completed a demographic survey and the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation at the beginning of the course. While the course is still actively running, we have tracked student participation over the first five weeks of the eleven-week course.
@article{arxiv.1307.2533,
title = {The Initial State of Students Taking an Introductory Physics MOOC},
author = {John M. Aiken and Shih-Yin Lin and Scott S. Douglas and Edwin F. Greco and Brian D. Thoms and Michael F. Schatz and Marcos D. Caballero},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1307.2533},
year = {2013}
}