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effective only on adults that already have an education. Why is that a bad thing? It's already a sizable demographic, and one that self-selects for being i

• bad_user 10y ago
  I disagree with "self-selects for being interested in education". Most people learn by direct interaction with other people or their teacher, which is the problem of MOOCs. It would be more accurate to say that online education works for autodidacts. And don't get me wrong, that still has a lot of value and I've enjoyed my online courses greatly. But it simply can't be a replacement for a classic college education, which was what we were talking about.
  • mafribe 10y ago
    Most people learn by direct interaction I'll have to disagree here. I've been a university teacher for over a decade, and the number of students who interact with me is small. Most students don't actually interact with others all that much in learning. Neither did I as an undergraduate or pupil. I'm not saying that's a good thing, but that's a fact. Most learning is auto-didactic in some form or shape. What universities offer is deadlines and penalities for missed deadlines. Those are anti-procrastionation scaffolds that most people (including myself) need for effective long-term learning. MOOCs mostly lack this, and that why MOOCs have not yet replaced conventional schools and universities.