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lol, I wrote a little Javascript thingy to do that for me, but I'll try this for sure. I hate that they don't keep the course materials open indefinitely... and

by hdx 13y ago

lol, I wrote a little Javascript thingy to do that for me, but I'll try this for sure. I hate that they don't keep the course materials open indefinitely... and I don't get it either.

hayksaakian 13y ago
i presume their goal is to make $
- psbp 13y ago
  Their only current source of revenue is through a signature track tier where you get a certificate that is verifiable with your identity. I doubt it will stay that way indefinitely, but for now the course material is provided without charge.
  - ConAntonakos 13y ago
    I definitely foresee a subscription-type model or a la carte via the signature track model. Either way, I think anyone would be happy to pay for this awesome education.
    - ghaff 13y ago
      I think you'd be surprised. If you look at the stats, there's a lot of professional-level (BS/Masters/PhD degree holders) as well as a lot of students from (broadly) the developing world. I'd submit that both those groups are probably pretty price sensitive--especially the latter, many of which don't even have credit cards in many cases. Would "adult ed" students be willing to pay some nominal amount--say $25-$50 for a course? Probably yes in some cases but remember the pricing discussions that take place here all the time. Getting from free to paid (in any amount) is a big barrier to get people over. Arguably the case would be different in certifications actually meant something. After all, people and their companies spend lots of $$ on various software certifications. But that's a whole other topic.
      - psbp 13y ago
        It isn't a huge barrier if the courses are as legitimate as actual university courses. As for the pricing question, the price of a can of coca-cola isn't the same in the U.S. as it is in Sudan. Once these MOOCS establish a brand, it will be easy for them to adjusts their prices to maximize profits.
        zura 13y ago
        You can't imagine how prices of such things are similar outside US. Even in countries such as Sudan. Most of the time, prices are even higher. http://herbsutter.com/2009/02/06/income-in-perspective-2-bppl-3day/ http://herbsutter.com/2009/02/06/income-in-perspective-2-bpp... Another example, I live in the East European xUSSR country, where average School teacher's monthly wage is $200 (not a typo). But the prices of milk, meat, bread, MacDonald's, coca/pepsi, ... are the same or more, compared to e.g. Switzerland. Last time I checked, the meat was more expensive here than in San Diego. So not everything is adjusted by income (in case of my country, housing and renting can be stated as significantly cheaper than in Switzerland).
        unimpressive 13y ago
        >$200 (not a typo) I genuinely wonder how they get by. (Especially with multiple family members to worry about.) In the future, if you want people to be sure it's not a typo, you can just say the words "Two hundred dollars", then your meaning will be absolutely unambiguous.
        zura 13y ago
        > I genuinely wonder how they get by Generally speaking, they don't. The teacher profession is treated as a hobby. Like they prefer to go to the School and teach rather than sitting a whole day at home (unemployment is the Big problem here, outside IT field). So you better have some other member of the family doing some other work. People in such conditions (quite many), just buy less goodies. They don't have ipads/iphones, new cars or similar...
pamelafox 13y ago
(I used to work at Coursera) It's actually up to the professors to decide - some of them leave them up, some close the classes. Sometimes they'll close because they want to improve the videos for next time or prevent super simple cheating in the next session, for example. We came up with proposals for how we could leave all classes open while also alleviating professor concerns, but I don't know how far those are along. There's a lot on their plate, as you can imagine!
- clicks 13y ago
  Is there any way to determine which ones are going to be left up and which ones are going to be put down (and for that matter, whether or not a certain course will be re-run on Coursera the next time around)? I'm curious to know if the ongoing 'Startup Engineering' course ( https://www.coursera.org/course/startup https://www.coursera.org/course/startup ) will be put down or not.
  - balajis 13y ago
    Instructor here. We'll be doing a v2 of the course after a few months and will repost the materials at that time (we've learned a ton from the first MOOC run).
    - ConAntonakos 13y ago
      Startup Engineering is probably one of the most applicable classes I've taken. Thank you!
    - clicks 13y ago
      Awesome, thank you very much. I'm very happy with how the course has been going so far, and will have my siblings and friends take it when it runs again the next time around.
    - Techbrunch 13y ago
      I did not found the time to follow this session, but I will follow the next one for sure :)

by hdx 13y ago

lol, I wrote a little Javascript thingy to do that for me, but I'll try this for sure. I hate that they don't keep the course materials open indefinitely... and I don't get it either.

hayksaakian 13y ago

i presume their goal is to make $

psbp 13y ago
Their only current source of revenue is through a signature track tier where you get a certificate that is verifiable with your identity. I doubt it will stay that way indefinitely, but for now the course material is provided without charge.
- ConAntonakos 13y ago
  I definitely foresee a subscription-type model or a la carte via the signature track model. Either way, I think anyone would be happy to pay for this awesome education.
  - ghaff 13y ago
    I think you'd be surprised. If you look at the stats, there's a lot of professional-level (BS/Masters/PhD degree holders) as well as a lot of students from (broadly) the developing world. I'd submit that both those groups are probably pretty price sensitive--especially the latter, many of which don't even have credit cards in many cases. Would "adult ed" students be willing to pay some nominal amount--say $25-$50 for a course? Probably yes in some cases but remember the pricing discussions that take place here all the time. Getting from free to paid (in any amount) is a big barrier to get people over. Arguably the case would be different in certifications actually meant something. After all, people and their companies spend lots of $$ on various software certifications. But that's a whole other topic.
    - psbp 13y ago
      It isn't a huge barrier if the courses are as legitimate as actual university courses. As for the pricing question, the price of a can of coca-cola isn't the same in the U.S. as it is in Sudan. Once these MOOCS establish a brand, it will be easy for them to adjusts their prices to maximize profits.
      - zura 13y ago
        You can't imagine how prices of such things are similar outside US. Even in countries such as Sudan. Most of the time, prices are even higher. http://herbsutter.com/2009/02/06/income-in-perspective-2-bppl-3day/ http://herbsutter.com/2009/02/06/income-in-perspective-2-bpp... Another example, I live in the East European xUSSR country, where average School teacher's monthly wage is $200 (not a typo). But the prices of milk, meat, bread, MacDonald's, coca/pepsi, ... are the same or more, compared to e.g. Switzerland. Last time I checked, the meat was more expensive here than in San Diego. So not everything is adjusted by income (in case of my country, housing and renting can be stated as significantly cheaper than in Switzerland).
        unimpressive 13y ago
        >$200 (not a typo) I genuinely wonder how they get by. (Especially with multiple family members to worry about.) In the future, if you want people to be sure it's not a typo, you can just say the words "Two hundred dollars", then your meaning will be absolutely unambiguous.
        zura 13y ago
        > I genuinely wonder how they get by Generally speaking, they don't. The teacher profession is treated as a hobby. Like they prefer to go to the School and teach rather than sitting a whole day at home (unemployment is the Big problem here, outside IT field). So you better have some other member of the family doing some other work. People in such conditions (quite many), just buy less goodies. They don't have ipads/iphones, new cars or similar...

pamelafox 13y ago

(I used to work at Coursera) It's actually up to the professors to decide - some of them leave them up, some close the classes. Sometimes they'll close because they want to improve the videos for next time or prevent super simple cheating in the next session, for example. We came up with proposals for how we could leave all classes open while also alleviating professor concerns, but I don't know how far those are along. There's a lot on their plate, as you can imagine!

clicks 13y ago
Is there any way to determine which ones are going to be left up and which ones are going to be put down (and for that matter, whether or not a certain course will be re-run on Coursera the next time around)? I'm curious to know if the ongoing 'Startup Engineering' course ( https://www.coursera.org/course/startup https://www.coursera.org/course/startup ) will be put down or not.
- balajis 13y ago
  Instructor here. We'll be doing a v2 of the course after a few months and will repost the materials at that time (we've learned a ton from the first MOOC run).
  - ConAntonakos 13y ago
    Startup Engineering is probably one of the most applicable classes I've taken. Thank you!
  - clicks 13y ago
    Awesome, thank you very much. I'm very happy with how the course has been going so far, and will have my siblings and friends take it when it runs again the next time around.
  - Techbrunch 13y ago
    I did not found the time to follow this session, but I will follow the next one for sure :)