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Online Education's Dirty Secret - Awful Retention

rein.pk

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Re: Online Education's Dirty Secret - Awful Retention

#161

Post by jcheng »

btilly wrote: post #96
jcheng wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an interesting and appealing description, but sounds pretty different than what Wikipedia has to say about ADD. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_deficit_disorder#se...

It sounds different, but I am simply giving more detail about what happens inside of the disorder. Any decent book written in the last decade will confirm my description. People with ADHD or ADD don't have executive control of what they will focus on. Inability to focus on what you're told to focus on is noticed in most environments as not listening to instructions, inability to stay on assigned task, poor attention…

Googling for the term "hyperfocus" confirms your description. Thanks, I learned something!

Re: Online Education's Dirty Secret - Awful Retention

#162

Post by nbouscal »

lawnchair_larry wrote: post #131
nbouscal wrote: post #35

I don't see how something can be a "dirty secret" when everyone already knows about it. This is not news, and I think the author is well aware of that and just wanted an eye-grabbing headline. As for courses being too fast: they're college courses. That's a core part of their value proposition. If they were slower, or did not follow a rigid schedule at all (like the "better" examples presented in the article), they w…

Or should you not criticize dissenters just because it happens to fit you? There could be a better way for more people, regardless of your personal experience.

There is a substantive difference between the service offered by iTunes U, Youtube, and countless others, and the service offered by Coursera and edX. This difference corresponds to a difference in learning styles (synchronous v. asynchronous, as it has been phrased in this thread), and it doesn't make sense for any one product to target two diametrically opposed learning styles. What does make sense is the approach that Coursera has actually already been taking: offer both as separate products. You can take classes on schedule, or you can take them off schedule for no certificate. Complaining about the synchronous model because you are an asynchronous learner simply doesn't make any sense.

Re: Online Education's Dirty Secret - Awful Retention

#163

Post by lawnchair_larry »

nbouscal wrote: post #162
lawnchair_larry wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or should you not criticize dissenters just because it happens to fit you? There could be a better way for more people, regardless of your personal experience.

There is a substantive difference between the service offered by iTunes U, Youtube, and countless others, and the service offered by Coursera and edX. This difference corresponds to a difference in learning styles (synchronous v. asynchronous, as it has been phrased in this thread), and it doesn't make sense for any one product to target two diametrically opposed learning styles. What does make sense is the approach…

Nothing that you've listed is an asynchronous course. Currently, the choice is synchronous course or asynchronous video playlist. Coursera can likely fill that gap with a single database flag. It makes plenty of sense to suggest that they consider doing so.

You're mistaken, actually - in most cases, coursera does not offer taking classes off schedule for no certificate. That's exactly what everyone is asking for.

Re: Online Education's Dirty Secret - Awful Retention

#164

Post by colin_jack »

lawnchair_larry wrote: post #163
nbouscal wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a substantive difference between the service offered by iTunes U, Youtube, and countless others, and the service offered by Coursera and edX. This difference corresponds to a difference in learning styles (synchronous v. asynchronous, as it has been phrased in this thread), and it doesn't make sense for any one product to target two diametrically opposed learning styles. What does make sense is the approach…

Nothing that you've listed is an asynchronous course. Currently, the choice is synchronous course or asynchronous video playlist. Coursera can likely fill that gap with a single database flag. It makes plenty of sense to suggest that they consider doing so. You're mistaken, actually - in most cases, coursera does not offer taking classes off schedule for no certificate. That's exactly what everyone is asking for.

I'm not sure everyone is asking for that. I think it would seriously water down the courses in terms of discussions in the forums, sharing online (study room, hangouts), in terms of the quizzes and assignments.

The only thing I'd like is the more intense 6 week courses split over say 10 weeks. Other than that I think they are taking the right approach.

Re: Online Education's Dirty Secret - Awful Retention

#165

Post by denzil_correa »

DennisP wrote: post #108
denzil_correa wrote: post #23

One of the main problems the author has with Coursera or EdX is that it is "too fast". To address this problem, I urge the author to try Udacity [0]. You can set learning at your own pace. That said, not all material on Coursera is "amazing". Some of the classes have very high completion rate like Functional Programming with Scala has a 19.2% completion rate [1]. Similarly, the class taken by Andrew Ng on Machine Lea…

Koller's class is difficult, but it's a graduate-level CS class with almost all the same material as the class at Stanford. I thought she taught it well. It was rough, and I didn't make it through the whole thing the first time, but I'm back to try again.

    Koller's class is difficult, but it's a graduate-level CS class
A graduate level class is not a guilt-free pass to make it "difficult". A course no matter what level, should be engaging and challenging. It need not be difficult to be an engaging course.
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