In this research our objectives include the following: a) in the context of early dropouts of MOOC registrants, what are some factors that predict the drop-out; and b) in the context of those who attend MOOC courses, what is the relationship between engagement with the course material and the grade earned at the end of the course. We focus on the behaviour and outcomes of two distinct groups of participants – early dropouts (Study 1) and participants who appear for exams to obtain certification (Study 2) in MOOCs. Uses and gratification theory, user impatience and engagement theory provide the theoretical underpinnings for the two studies. Study 1 based on the analysis of a data set of \(n = 641,138\) participants who enrolled for 16 Harvard and MIT MOOCs for the period 2012–2013. In study 2, we focus on the participants from 15 courses who have completed the course with a grade and have been awarded a certificate \(\left( {n = 12,615} \right)\) . Our findings on initial dropout from Study 1 indicate that early registration is a strong signal that may be used for monitoring participants that are susceptible to dropping out. The findings of Study 2 reveal that the positive effect of increased engagement on grade for the MOOCs indicates that a better approach to enhance tangible outcomes for participants (e.g., final grades) is to focus on increasing interaction/engagement with the course. We suggest that the roles of gratification and belongingness may be further investigated to understand learner motivation to be part of MOOCs.