Drop-off rate is the proportion of learners who abandon a course before completing it, ideally expressed against the content position where abandonment occurred rather than as a single figure.
What it is
A single drop-off percentage is the inverse of completion and no more useful. The valuable form is positional: for each section, what share of sessions ended there.
The resulting distribution usually takes one of three shapes — a cliff at one position, a staircase across several, or a smooth slope with no features. Each implies a different diagnosis.
Why it matters
Positional drop-off is the most directly actionable metric in learning analytics. It converts 'completion is low' into 'rewrite section 4', which is a work order rather than a discussion.
A common confusion
Distinguish abandonment from pausing. A session ending at section 4 that resumes at section 4 tomorrow is a pause; counting it as drop-off overstates the problem and implicates an innocent section.
Related
See also completion rate, engagement heatmap and disengagement prediction. See the full glossary for the rest, or finding your drop-off points for the wider context.
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