I can certainly see udacity type courses replacing the 1000student first year intro lectures - all those stats101 and intro mathematical methods classes. Lectu

I can certainly see udacity type courses replacing the 1000student first year intro lectures - all those stats101 and intro mathematical methods classes. Lectures aren't a particularly good way of teaching something. They were invented in the middle ages when, before printing, the number of students exceeded the number of copies of the textbook. Their only real role in a general course it to take attendance and because you don't trust the students to actually spend a week reading the textbook on their own. A udacity (or Khan academy) type setup where the student HAS to complete each problem is almost as good as a one on one tutorial - and certainly better than sitting at the back of the big lecture theater watching someone read powerpoint slides. The reason that "multimedia self directed online learning experiences" haven't worked is that they were just as passive as lectures. Having a youtube clip of a lecture on in a window on your browser is about as effective as photocopying a paper as an alternative to reading it!