True. I think the focus on self-direction is a tangent. The real potential for MOOCs is individually tailored pacing and material at scale. Self-direction is al

True. I think the focus on self-direction is a tangent. The real potential for MOOCs is individually tailored pacing and material at scale. Self-direction is all well and good for the students who are capable of such. But even for those who aren't, there's great promise in the idea of "custom" curricula and even "custom" pacing of standard courses. Our current education system is based on standards and Gaussian distributions. Some aptitudes appear to be distributed that way. But a lot of things aren't, like learning styles, speeds, comprehension methods, imagination, specific interests and aptitudes, and so forth. We can't dream of assigning an individual tutor to every student in the country. But we can dream of a world in which technology enables every student in a standard course to learn in a personally optimized way.