Many participants in online courses struggle to remain engaged and complete the course, often due to a lack of perceived accountability. This study experimentally tested the effects of accountability interventions designed to encourage learners to discuss their progress with someone either inside or outside the course who could help hold them accountable. In a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Environmental Education Outcomes, developed for a global audience of environmental educators, 1,259 participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: accountability-inside, accountability-outside, or a business-as-usual control. Overall, the interventions did not significantly affect the average number of discussion posts or project completion rates. However, participants in the accountability-inside condition made significantly fewer comments across all countries. Notably, among U.S. participants, those in the accountability-outside made more posts and comments and had higher project completion rates than those in the accountability-inside condition. These findings offer insights into culturally contingent responses to accountability structures and point to a scalable approach for enhancing engagement in online learning environments. They also raise important theoretical questions about the psychological mechanisms through which accountability influences learner behavior.

Keywords

online learning · accountability · field experiment · cultural differences