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The success rates for MOOCs is usually lower than 5%. MOOCs were the holy grail - free, Quality, any time, education. And it still had single digit pass rates

The success rates for MOOCs is usually lower than 5%. MOOCs were the holy grail - free, Quality, any time, education. And it still had single digit pass rates. ———- The people who are self motivated to learn, are probably people who move entire fields forward. They are likely very happy while learning. It’s an important part of human survival and existence. We can and should optimize for it. We are going to waste energy, if we argue that we should optimize for possibly 5% of the population. Disregarding what 95% want, is a losing battle.

kelnos 2y ago
I don't think the GP was talking about MOOCs, but self-directed, unstructured learning. My teenage years on the internet before MOOCs were a thing, and I learned plenty.
- ben_w 2y ago
  While there's a lot of good learning material on the web, MOOC and other, I'm not sure it's an improvement over the alternatives — my mostly-pre-internet teenage years had me learn a lot from stuff I got from the library. And sure, even just Wikipedia alone is bigger than most libraries, but as both are too large for one person, I'm just not convinced.
- intended 2y ago
  > … how many of us on this site were able to learn and grow because they got online as teenagers and learned things MOOCs represent a cohort of self identified, motivated students, with highly flexible and quality learning material. Completion rates act as a proxy, to estimate how many people will actually avail of the freedoms they have to learn.
roenxi 2y ago
5% is huge, that is 1 person in 20. 5% of the population having a bachelor's degree was enough to run an advanced society back in the 50s. For a free and easily available good that is quite a significant rate.
- intended 2y ago
  5% is not a voting group with weight. 60% isn’t a voting group that can handle parents motivated to take care of their kids. However, let’s dump politics. All things being equal, saying we should benefit 5%-20% of the population, at the cost of 95% to 80% of the population, just isnt an argument we can get behind logically. Privacy is not a small thing to give up, but it is an easy thing to give up. If there is to be some space for people to live without real ID, a practical alternative and argument is needed.
zxcvbnm69 2y ago
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accurrent 2y ago
I find MOOC videos super useful even though I havent been motivated to complete one properly. I may not have the time to juggle work and an MOOC with homework deadlines, but sometimes the MOOC videos may be all I need to finish a complex task.

kelnos 2y ago

I don't think the GP was talking about MOOCs, but self-directed, unstructured learning. My teenage years on the internet before MOOCs were a thing, and I learned plenty.

ben_w 2y ago
While there's a lot of good learning material on the web, MOOC and other, I'm not sure it's an improvement over the alternatives — my mostly-pre-internet teenage years had me learn a lot from stuff I got from the library. And sure, even just Wikipedia alone is bigger than most libraries, but as both are too large for one person, I'm just not convinced.
intended 2y ago
> … how many of us on this site were able to learn and grow because they got online as teenagers and learned things MOOCs represent a cohort of self identified, motivated students, with highly flexible and quality learning material. Completion rates act as a proxy, to estimate how many people will actually avail of the freedoms they have to learn.

roenxi 2y ago

5% is huge, that is 1 person in 20. 5% of the population having a bachelor's degree was enough to run an advanced society back in the 50s. For a free and easily available good that is quite a significant rate.

intended 2y ago
5% is not a voting group with weight. 60% isn’t a voting group that can handle parents motivated to take care of their kids. However, let’s dump politics. All things being equal, saying we should benefit 5%-20% of the population, at the cost of 95% to 80% of the population, just isnt an argument we can get behind logically. Privacy is not a small thing to give up, but it is an easy thing to give up. If there is to be some space for people to live without real ID, a practical alternative and argument is needed.

zxcvbnm69 2y ago

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accurrent 2y ago

I find MOOC videos super useful even though I havent been motivated to complete one properly. I may not have the time to juggle work and an MOOC with homework deadlines, but sometimes the MOOC videos may be all I need to finish a complex task.