> The author is saying that MOOCs don't offer the level of sociability that brick-and-mortar classes do. Of course, this remains an invalid claim for entirely

> The author is saying that MOOCs don't offer the level of sociability that brick-and-mortar classes do. Of course, this remains an invalid claim for entirely different reasons, unless you interpret it as admitting that the "level" of sociability of MOOCs is often higher than a bricks-and-mortar class. I recently completed an online master's program, offered by a traditional university, but in the MOOC format, with lectures in podcast format, and collaboration primarily via message boards, chat sessions similar to IRC, and email. There were conference calls as well, but the bulk of actual academic collaboration took place via text media. In-person meetings only occurred for one weekend in each semester. As I perceived it, the depth and sophistication of interaction and collaboration among students was significantly higher here than in any bricks-and-mortar course I've ever taken. I attribute this to the asynchronicity of communication (it's pretty hard to get a large group of people together at the same time and all in the mental state conducive to productive discourse) and to the fact that people just communicate better in writing than in verbal speech (assuming they can write effectively, at least; if so, it's much easier to convey complex inter-related ideas in a paragraph or two of text than it is to attempt to verbalize them in real-time). Quite like the comparing the experience of having a discussion on HN to discussing the same topic face-to-face with others, in fact. OTOH, if "sociability" refers to merely recreational activity like grabbing a beer after a lecture, then yeah, bricks-and-mortar wins. But what's that got to do with school? If I want to socialize for the sake of socializing, I can go out for a beer with my local friends instead of my classmates.