

Massive Open Online Courses Are Multiplying at a Rapid Pace - 001sky
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/education/edlife/massive-open-online-courses-are-multiplying-at-a-rapid-pace.html

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breckinloggins
The question is, as MOOCs continue to grow in popularity and the "graduates"
of these courses inevitably enter jobs that use these new skills, will the
"certificates" that these places offer come to have their own currency?

In other words, will there come a time when a "degree" from Coursera showing
proficiency in a relevant topic become _more_ valuable than an actual degree
from an accredited four-year institution?

I think that this will happen. Slowly, but it will happen. Software companies
will probably lead the way on this. If I were hiring someone for a developer
position, I have to ask my self which I would rather see:

\- An online portfolio complete with GitHub resume of open source samples,
blog posts demonstrating writing skills and competence, and a collection of
certificates from Udacity, mitX, and Coursera.

OR...

\- A degree from State Tech with transcripts showing an A in Data Structures,
a B in databases, and an A in Operating Systems

Obviously there won't be such a clean divide between the two for a long time,
but it's always been my belief that software development especially (and
engineering in general) are better served by a master-apprentice approach than
a four year "liberal arts" approach. Seen this way, the rise in "online
credentials" is most valuable as a way of selecting those who would most
benefit from the intense time and money investment of a master of their field.

As for general education, I do think it would be a shame to throw the baby out
with the bathwater and end up with an entire generation of people who are
really good at machine learning but never took a higher-level history course.
So I'm thinking a good hybrid would be a two-year associates degree that
covers the basics followed by self study online using MOOCs (perhaps combined
with some kind of enlightened one or two year "work-study" program offered by
companies like Google).

I'm really just thinking out loud here, so this isn't some kind of formal
proposal or argument. I'm just wondering what the most optimal "end game" is.

~~~
foobarqux
Most of the courses are, at least currently, not the quality of those served
by a good conventional institution. Moreover the multiple-choice and/or keep-
trying grading format makes assessment, even self-assessment, challenging.

~~~
mkolodny
From the article:

> And in a vote of confidence in the form, students in both [of two Coursera
> courses] overwhelmingly endorsed the quality of the course: 63 percent who
> completed Dr. Agarwal’s course as well as a similar one on campus found the
> MOOC better; 36 percent found it comparable; 1 percent, worse.

I'd say that the quality of MOOCs vary, but definitely no more than the
quality of courses at a formal institution.

~~~
codeonfire
Really, people who spend their time, received some notion of credit for
completing a class, and then praise it for quality represent the textbook case
of biased opinion.

~~~
foobarqux
Even more so if the course was easy and they received a good grade.

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olefoo
I'm quite prone to oversubscribing to MOOCs and then dropping out quickly.
Sometimes it's because I realize that though I'm interested in the topic I'm
"long magazine article" interested not 12-week class interested. And sometimes
I drop out due to lack of time to make the commitment to do well in the
course; I find that "coursera guilt" is recognizable to most of my social
group, and my threshold is that if I'm more than two weeks behind I'll drop
out.

There are some things that I think these outfits could do to improve the
retention rates for students; most of these features should be optional but
providing support for students to complete courses should be a priority for
online learning companies; regardless of their business model.

Herewith, a list of features that would help me stay on top of courses I am
taking for reasons somewhere on the spectrum from recreational intellectual
interest to professional development:

1\. export syllabus/course schedule to calendar; I do this manually for some
courses where I really do want to reach the finish line.

2\. Optional daily reminders on weekdays; this would encompass the videos you
should watch and the readings you should complete that day to stay even with
the course schedule, the upcoming class assignments and the results of the
last assignment, as well as a digest of forum threads.

3\. In tandem with the above, improved course dashboards; there should be one
place to go to find out what you should look at, read, or do; next.

4\. Video editing and presentation coaching for instructors. Some people are
really good at presenting course material, others need some editorial coaching
to focus their videos. I can think of a couple of courses where the lecturers
lack of stage presence and inability to be concise made watching the videos
such a chore that I would rather do anything else than watch them; and that's
often the point where I decide my life won't be worse if I drop that course
and see if I can find a different one covering the same material.

On another note: Does anyone offer a course on how to read mathematical
notation? I often find myself trying to read equations in notations that are
not that familiar to me, and it feels like a fundamental lack of literacy to
me.

~~~
rdudekul
I too am prone to enrolling in too many courses. I am always behind on
courses. My strategy has been to learn and apply the skills, more than to get
a certificate of completion. Some courses take far more time than others,
specifically once that need Math refreshers. I am pleasantly surprised by the
high quality of these courses and intend to complete most of the ones I
enrolled in, in my own time, since it is really hard for me, with full time
work, to follow the course schedule.

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intellegacy
I'm about halfway through completing MIT EdX's 6.00x and Udacity's CS101
courses and I'm extremely satisfied so far. I think the instruction has been
near-perfect. For the first time in my life the material is sticking.

I'm really looking forward to the increases in human skill and potential that
comes from educating millions from around the world. That creative genius who
never how to code, now has the skills to write innovative software. Or the
millions of more average people who've increased their potential - that's
valuable as well. Think about what the world would be like if everyone was
educated up to the college-level. I think human advancement in science,
culture, technology, and the arts would accelerate tremendously.

~~~
misiti3780
totally agree

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dhawalhs
I wrote a post about the growth of MOOCs with some numbers and graphs
<http://www.blog.class-central.com/growth-of-moocs/>

~~~
abecedarius
Near unreadable on iPad FYI.

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scrrr
I once heard the phrase "When the New York times is reporting on something
then it's already old news". But that aside: Good, I always hoped this would
happen. The internet is not just games, movies, pornography, social networking
and sending PDF files. It's predestined to be a medium for learning.

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moistgorilla
I really love moocs. I've somewhat become addicted to them. One huge problem I
have with them however is that there is no obvious path for learning in them.
Note I am not talking about the course itself but the path from one course to
another. This isn't a problem held by all of them (notably Udacity and
Saylor). For coursera and edx however they just seem to be an eclectic jumble
of unrelated courses. If I want to take a course but don't meet the
requirements I'm pretty much screwed if the course isn't being given. If I
want to expand my knowledge a step further I don't know where to go.

~~~
thisone
With coursera I think it depends on the area.

There's an algorithms I and an algorithms II course, for example.

I'm starting Crytography I next week, and expect that to have a follow up as
well, and Analytic Combinatorics, Part I is in a couple of months.

The logic course that finishes up in a week or so though, that one seems to
come out of nowhere and not have much of a stated follow on to it. Despite, of
course, being useful for all manner of computer science.

But as for the groundings for these courses. I don't know what the answer is.
I don't think the providers need to provide a basics level, especially if they
are getting sign up numbers into the 50k per course. But providing basics
courses or self-study pre-courses would be a good move, considering the number
of people in the logic course who, unfortunately, didn't have the knowledge
base the course requires.

There are some pain points coursera could smooth over, and having a better
course search and course reference system is one of them.

I think, because it seems that a number of these courses are on line
equivalents of off line courses, the thought hasn't been put into making the
course abstracts stand on their own, but instead are just rewordings of the
standard course descriptions.

