Due dates in MOOCs: does stricter mean better?

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) employ a variety of components to engage students in learning (eg. videos, forums, quizzes). Some components are graded, which means that they play a key role in a student's final grade and certificate attainment. It is not yet clear how the due date structure of graded components affects student outcomes including academic performance and alternative modes of learning of students. Using data from HarvardX and MITx, Harvard's and MIT's divisions for online learning, we study the structure of due dates on graded components for 10 completed MOOCs. We find that stricter due dates are associated with higher certificate attainment rates but fewer students who join late being able to earn a certificate. Our findings motivate further studies of how the use of graded components and deadlines affects academic and alternative learning of MOOC students, and can help inform the design of online courses.