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As an employer I like the horrible attrition rates that MOOCs report. Anyone who completes a course in a MOOC has demonstrated a character trait that I value --
by philiphodgen 13y ago
As an employer I like the horrible attrition rates that MOOCs report. Anyone who completes a course in a MOOC has demonstrated a character trait that I value -- self-direction.
This is, as you say, not enough to displace Ivy League degrees (though I see them as indifferent predictors of success, coupled with high correlation to an entitlement mentality). (Disclaimer: my daughter is looking at Ivy League schools this week and in particular had a fine time touring Dartmouth's engineering department on Friday).
But for the right situations the MOOC schools will triumph. Fine by me if 80% of MOOC students drop out. That last 20% is golden.
- JoeAltmaier 13y agoI believe the 'horrible attrition rate' is ignorable. The true measure is cost per pupil that completes the course. Does that beat the current system? See, all those dropouts have negligible marginal cost. They signed up because there was no significant hurdle to signing up (cost, commitment, stigma). They may not have even been 'students' i.e. a person who commits a hefty portion of their life to study. Many quit because they were just trying it out, or curious, or any number of things. It doesn't matter. It was free to start; its free to stop. A MOOC is valuable if it educates pretty much anybody at all, given the extremely low cost.