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San Jose State suspending its online offerings indicates that online only classes may not be all they're cracked up to be. http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/S

by pstuart 13y ago

San Jose State suspending its online offerings indicates that online only classes may not be all they're cracked up to be. http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/San-Jose-State-suspends-online-courses-4672870.php http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/San-Jose-State-suspends-o...

ceejayoz 13y ago
Or that San Jose State did a crappy job of theirs. We'd need more than a short news article to determine which.
- ZanyProgrammer 13y ago
  Theres no shortage of anecdotal reports by college professors complaining that higher than normal numbers of students fail/drop out of online courses. Heck, my own anecdotal experience of distance learning in college recently bears that out.
  - mkehrt 13y ago
    I'm told by someone who's taught one that the completion rates on free MOOCs are in the low single digit percents of people who signed up, if that. But, as he points out, this is really ok, as people are learning as much as they care to.
    - systematical 13y ago
      Yeah there is a difference when you actually pay for them, this is paid for. I've never completed a free one, but any online college course I've paid for you can bet I've completed spending several hours a week on and well over 16 hours or more leading up to mid-terms and finals.
    - djKianoosh 13y ago
      if something is free, i bet many more people sign up to see what it's like. if it's not for them, they bail. a high percentage of dropout i would think is expected for something that's free. it's comparing apples and oranges...
  - UK-AL 13y ago
    Dropout numbers are a pointless metric on moocs. I've lost count on how many moocs I have signed up for, without any intention of completing them. It's just an example of people trying bring in old metrics, on new things they don't understand.
    - bcbrown 13y ago
      Same here. I've learned a ton from the moocs I've signed up for and not completed.
  - mslate 13y ago
    The plural of anecdote is not data.
    - abduhl 13y ago
      The plural of anecdote is data. Edit: I suppose I should post something useful here rather than just a snark reply to someone's snark reply. Anecdotes represent distinct points of data and, therefore, a bunch of anecdotes would then be a collection of data.
      - summerdown2 13y ago
        I'm not sure that's correct. To become useful for science, you also need to put in a lot of work to correct for bias, etc. Having a plural number of anecdotes all with sample bias is not necessarily data and any attempt to create a correlation will run into problems.
      - mslate 13y ago
        The plural of anecdote is anecdotes. The plural of datum is data. Datum != anecdote. Data != anecdotes. QED.
  - greedo 13y ago
    And of course, college professors are completely unbiased in evaluating MOOCs...
    - fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
      I welcome high-quality MOOCs. I think competition will improve in-person offerings, especially at smaller colleges. I grow tired of getting low-quality students from my prerequisite courses. Sometimes I feel like removing the prerequisite requirements for some of my courses. The quality of some of them are so low.
jurassic 13y ago
The article isn't very clear, but I think this SJSU/EdX collaboration was an attempt by SJSU administrators to save money by doing a "flipped classroom" with MIT educational materials. Maybe it's not politically correct to say so, but an average failing grade by SJSU students on MIT curricula does not surprise me at all. SJSU only has a 47% six year graduation rate.
- ZanyProgrammer 13y ago
  How many SJSU students can afford to go to 4 years of college full time?
  - jurassic 13y ago
    19% part-time students. https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/san-jose-state-university https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search...
tingletech 13y ago
San José State University just suspended the MOOCs -- their library school masters program (for example) is still mostly all on-line/ distance education
ippisl 13y ago
One counterpoint to this is daphne coller's claim that pass rate is about 70 percent for people who paid $50 for a special track that includes verification of identity and means to prevent cheating.
fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
There will be failed starts here and there. It does not invalidate the model.

by pstuart 13y ago

ceejayoz 13y ago

Or that San Jose State did a crappy job of theirs. We'd need more than a short news article to determine which.

ZanyProgrammer 13y ago
Theres no shortage of anecdotal reports by college professors complaining that higher than normal numbers of students fail/drop out of online courses. Heck, my own anecdotal experience of distance learning in college recently bears that out.
- mkehrt 13y ago
  I'm told by someone who's taught one that the completion rates on free MOOCs are in the low single digit percents of people who signed up, if that. But, as he points out, this is really ok, as people are learning as much as they care to.
  - systematical 13y ago
    Yeah there is a difference when you actually pay for them, this is paid for. I've never completed a free one, but any online college course I've paid for you can bet I've completed spending several hours a week on and well over 16 hours or more leading up to mid-terms and finals.
  - djKianoosh 13y ago
    if something is free, i bet many more people sign up to see what it's like. if it's not for them, they bail. a high percentage of dropout i would think is expected for something that's free. it's comparing apples and oranges...
- UK-AL 13y ago
  Dropout numbers are a pointless metric on moocs. I've lost count on how many moocs I have signed up for, without any intention of completing them. It's just an example of people trying bring in old metrics, on new things they don't understand.
  - bcbrown 13y ago
    Same here. I've learned a ton from the moocs I've signed up for and not completed.
- mslate 13y ago
  The plural of anecdote is not data.
  - abduhl 13y ago
    The plural of anecdote is data. Edit: I suppose I should post something useful here rather than just a snark reply to someone's snark reply. Anecdotes represent distinct points of data and, therefore, a bunch of anecdotes would then be a collection of data.
    - summerdown2 13y ago
      I'm not sure that's correct. To become useful for science, you also need to put in a lot of work to correct for bias, etc. Having a plural number of anecdotes all with sample bias is not necessarily data and any attempt to create a correlation will run into problems.
    - mslate 13y ago
      The plural of anecdote is anecdotes. The plural of datum is data. Datum != anecdote. Data != anecdotes. QED.
- greedo 13y ago
  And of course, college professors are completely unbiased in evaluating MOOCs...
  - fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
    I welcome high-quality MOOCs. I think competition will improve in-person offerings, especially at smaller colleges. I grow tired of getting low-quality students from my prerequisite courses. Sometimes I feel like removing the prerequisite requirements for some of my courses. The quality of some of them are so low.

jurassic 13y ago

The article isn't very clear, but I think this SJSU/EdX collaboration was an attempt by SJSU administrators to save money by doing a "flipped classroom" with MIT educational materials. Maybe it's not politically correct to say so, but an average failing grade by SJSU students on MIT curricula does not surprise me at all. SJSU only has a 47% six year graduation rate.

ZanyProgrammer 13y ago
How many SJSU students can afford to go to 4 years of college full time?
- jurassic 13y ago
  19% part-time students. https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/san-jose-state-university https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search...

tingletech 13y ago

San José State University just suspended the MOOCs -- their library school masters program (for example) is still mostly all on-line/ distance education

ippisl 13y ago

One counterpoint to this is daphne coller's claim that pass rate is about 70 percent for people who paid $50 for a special track that includes verification of identity and means to prevent cheating.

fnordfnordfnord 13y ago

There will be failed starts here and there. It does not invalidate the model.