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Not sure about the large number of people, but speaking for myself: 1.Despite having an overwhelming stream of learning resources, it’s still hard to find some

Not sure about the large number of people, but speaking for myself: 1.Despite having an overwhelming stream of learning resources, it’s still hard to find something that is excellent personally for you not only in terms of theme, level, content, structure, pace, etc. but also fits your learning style the way material just clicks immediately. Without this clicking you lose precious time and pleasure of a great learning experience, which are among top factors in learning. For many people the time that they can afford to spend to learn a new skill is extremely limited. And even with some very mainstream themes like learning English or Python, it’s extremely hard to find exactly what you need. There are not so many great courses inside every given niche as you might think (even if you judge by some 5 of 50 criteria that matter for you), and even on top courses the personalization is absent or is done poorly. 2. The more niche is the theme you’re seeking to learn about, the harder it is to find something great, even just something worthwhile of your time. English for TOEFL? Ok. English for business? Ok. English for architects? Ha-ha. English for landscape architects? Ha-ha-ha! 3. Nearly 98% of all courses offer a poor communication model that doesn’t work (at least, for me) at all. Forum only? Slow, ask-and-pray model. Mentorship only? Expensive, hard to schedule. Chat only? Noisy, hard to navigate. Great communication over a course should combine different channels, with each of them being of high quality. Also they should be mixed up very thoughtfully and have a great deal of flexibility/personalization. This alone is quite hard to achieve. 4. Different topics/materials demand different approaches to learning, that are not always obvious, especially for beginners and people coming from different industries. I haven’t seen a course support that, along teaching the subject itself, constantly directs you in terms of how to consume the presented types of information the most efficient way that will save you time and instill the best habits. Hence many students struggle just to figure out how to deal with the course. Many people have even lower levels of understanding how to approach learning, learning how to learn should probably be ingrained in every course. 5. There is a widespread type of courses that teach you how to build some product, like let’s build a Yelp clone over a month. Many people who take these moocs struggle financially and take them to monetize the new skill asap. So why so few courses teach how to build commercial products, that will bring students not only knowledge, but also an opportunity to market the outcome and have some real profit?

posterboy 9y ago
> So why so few courses teach how to build commercial products, that will bring students not only knowledge, but also an opportunity to market the outcome and have some real profit? because that would create competition and nullify the opportunity > Hence many students struggle just to figure out how to deal with the course. Many people have even lower levels of understanding how to approach learning, learning how to learn should probably be ingrained in every course. The first part is true, learning how to learn is prerequisite to university level courses, self-organization is expected from a high school curriculum. This is a difficult topic. Hence, the second part is out of focus for such courses. > Nearly 98% of all courses offer a poor communication model You could say the same about any campus, but communication apart from the course material is not at first order the responsibility of the course offering to solve, except in courses focused on social sciences, or rather soft skills. Anyhow, forums are difficult, true, but bulletin boards and mailing-lists are the traditional channels of the internet. Social networks are a developing industry. Video or just audio is a proven alternative to text. For courses focused on communication, from my experience, a class on presentation technique was as an insightful topic, but that's only the tip of the iceberg. Surely, less technical topics are less amenable via just text. > The more niche is the theme you’re seeking to learn about, the harder it is to find something great, even just something worthwhile of your time. as I just said > English for TOEFL? Ok. English for business? Ok. English for architects? Ha-ha. English for landscape architects? Ha-ha-ha! Technical vernacular is C level (in toefel terms, I guess). Reading a book on the topic should help to familiarity with the topic. > Despite having an overwhelming stream of learning resources, it’s still hard to find something that is excellent personally ... The choice is overwhelming, therefore, focus is needed. Mass education is not really intended to be totally personal. Gamification is a current theme in motivation, maybe finding the right course can be seen as an adventure? A course is always just supplemental, don't expect too much of it, too.

posterboy 9y ago

> So why so few courses teach how to build commercial products, that will bring students not only knowledge, but also an opportunity to market the outcome and have some real profit? because that would create competition and nullify the opportunity > Hence many students struggle just to figure out how to deal with the course. Many people have even lower levels of understanding how to approach learning, learning how to learn should probably be ingrained in every course. The first part is true, learning how to learn is prerequisite to university level courses, self-organization is expected from a high school curriculum. This is a difficult topic. Hence, the second part is out of focus for such courses. > Nearly 98% of all courses offer a poor communication model You could say the same about any campus, but communication apart from the course material is not at first order the responsibility of the course offering to solve, except in courses focused on social sciences, or rather soft skills. Anyhow, forums are difficult, true, but bulletin boards and mailing-lists are the traditional channels of the internet. Social networks are a developing industry. Video or just audio is a proven alternative to text. For courses focused on communication, from my experience, a class on presentation technique was as an insightful topic, but that's only the tip of the iceberg. Surely, less technical topics are less amenable via just text. > The more niche is the theme you’re seeking to learn about, the harder it is to find something great, even just something worthwhile of your time. as I just said > English for TOEFL? Ok. English for business? Ok. English for architects? Ha-ha. English for landscape architects? Ha-ha-ha! Technical vernacular is C level (in toefel terms, I guess). Reading a book on the topic should help to familiarity with the topic. > Despite having an overwhelming stream of learning resources, it’s still hard to find something that is excellent personally ... The choice is overwhelming, therefore, focus is needed. Mass education is not really intended to be totally personal. Gamification is a current theme in motivation, maybe finding the right course can be seen as an adventure? A course is always just supplemental, don't expect too much of it, too.