
 8th Grade Twins take Astrobiology and Einstein Courses on Coursera - denzil_correa
http://blog.coursera.org/post/54132976778/8th-grade-twins-take-astrobiology-and-einstein-courses
======
hcarvalhoalves
I hate Coursera's model, though. They just replicated the school/college model
into the web, and that's stupid.

Having to wait for sessions doesn't make any sense, as does having a pre-
defined time to complete. The study material should be always available, and
peer review could be constant.

It seems it was created to appeal academia though, so I see why it's like
that.

~~~
markdown
As an anecdote in the other direction, I love the fact that the courses have a
pre-defined schedule and end date.

Without deadlines, a serial procrastinator like myself would never finish a
course.

At Udacity, I've successfully completed the two classes I took when they were
first released (and had deadlines). On the other hand, I only lasted around a
week with the two classes that are under "open enrollment".

~~~
abiekatz
Why not offer both options? Either take it at a predefined pace in line with
academic semesters or at your own pace. Seems like it would be the best of
both worlds.

~~~
markdown
See the answer below by sudont, which is spot on:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5961376](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5961376)

------
ChuckMcM
I'm always a bit confused about these things. Coursera puts colleges courses
on the Internet and they don't discriminate who takes them. Therefore people
who couldn't take them before now can. No doubt there is a "tiger parent"
somewhere streaming Coursera feeds via an iPad into their toddler's play area
on the off chance it will engage them.

I think its great that we've increased the reach of this education but that
people take advantage of it isn't a story in itself. A good story would be
"8th graders solve their village's water problem by using civil engineering
things they have learned on Coursera." Sort of like the guy who built a
generator out of junk to charge cell phones in Africa.

~~~
snogglethorpe
Yeah, seeing the headline immediately made me picture a tiger parent
submitting stories to HN...

["BREAKING: 5th-Grader Masters Beethoven Piano Sonata, Immediately Resumes
Violin Practice"]

------
officialjunk
i like education, but for some reason this just seems like "hey two people are
using coursera," which isn't really saying much. i guess i applaud the
students for being in 8th grade and wanting more. it does not matter that they
are twins. and "einstein" course? really? this hurts me inside as this is
something in my area of study. please just call it what it really is: physics.

