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As Coursera Evolves, Colleges Stay On and Investors Buy In
An anonymous reader writes: The hype over online academics has diminished as it became clear that it wasn't a panacea for cheap, global education. While many organizations are struggling with the realization that online courses don't fit in everywhere, Coursera has found out they definitely fit in somewhere. The colleges partnering with Coursera are sticking around, and the company has drawn fresh investments totaling $60 million from venture capitalists. Rather than shoehorning traditional college courses into an online format, they've begun experimenting with different ways to structure education. "The company has created a series of courses that add up to mini-degrees that students can earn quickly, and pay a small fee to certify that they successfully completed them." Other students are using it as a stepping stone to traditional universities: "Rice University, for instance, reports that it is getting more applicants — and higher-quality applicants — for its computer-science masters' degree after offering a CS course on Coursera."
I don't have experience with Corsera courses, but I am currently an OMSCS student at Georgia Tech (http://www.omscs.gatech.edu/). So far, the lessons (YouTube videos through Udacity) have been well done. However, the course discussions on the forums (Piazza) in some cases have been more valuable than the courses themselves. In particular, we've had a great thread going on about real world agile vs. non-agile development models as we've seen them in the professional world.
The difference may be that while not all students are US based, all students have to apply for admission to the program, with minimum credentials being a BS degree (generally in a STEM field) with a 3.0 and TOEFL scores for non-native speakers. Students are expecting rigorous courses and are generally graded at least a little bit on forum participation, so students have incentives to participate and the faculty and other students don't put up with "give me the answers" type posts (those would be an honor code violation and could easily get you kicked out). Maybe having to be admitted to a real school makes all the difference?
I worked as a TA in a university. There are people there also, missing deadlines and asking for higher grades. They just don't do it in front of everyone.
There is a simple solution to this problem:
- Clear, written rules for all, posted at the beginning of the course
- Enforcing those rules on forums too (people will cry, but let 'em)
- Deadlines, that give time to finish the assignments
- Deadlines, that do not move, even if they are bombing your city
I have encountered many of the same problems myself, taking MOOCs. They go away, when the instructors learn from these things and create new rules, and enforce them. This is how Coursera is evolving. The student material is the same, but the instructors learn from their previous problems with the students.
I've also noticed, that the quality of the forums is often based on a few bright inviduals , that really bring insights into conversations (and one of them was from India, and he was a better programmer than me (15 years of experience)). If everybody is a nagging idiot, well the forums are not going to be fun. That is the price we pay for free education without prequisities.
I am actually thrilled, to see Africans and other nationatilities on same courses, and graded the same as you Americans and us Europeans. They come from a totally different background and actually have to do real work, to even get materials for high level education. I wholeheartedly support bringing education to everyone, and have yet to see "free certicate" given to someone on a MOOC.
You seem to be saying that it's not easy to make the time, but what I'm hearing is, "I lack the discipline to schedule and prioritize my time and I need someone to explicitly provide me with that structure."
What's the alternative? Having an in-person class at a set time and location? That seems like it would take more time - and not of your choosing.
Until we get our lessons in pill form, there is no greater convenience to be had. You can learn literally any time you choose to. Get distracted? You can rewind and rewatch. Online quizzes, tests, and assignment submissions usually offer real-time feedback. You can be sitting on the toilet learning nuclear physics if it takes your fancy.
If you haven't got time for this, what are you doing on slashdot at all? You haven't got time for it either!