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This seems like a lot of cherry-picked data that ignores many other possible explanations. MOOCs may have a low completion rate, but if there's no cost to ente

by imgabe 12y ago

This seems like a lot of cherry-picked data that ignores many other possible explanations. MOOCs may have a low completion rate, but if there's no cost to enter, and no penalty for leaving, then it's easy to attract a lot of people who might have only had a passing interest and decided the subject wasn't for them, or who got busy with other things and stopped paying attention to the course (I'm guilty of that). It's not really an accurate comparison to a class where people have thousands of dollars invested in getting a grade. Also, the fact that one other country has college tuition prices that are approaching the US ($14,000 is still relatively low, even for many public schools if we're talking out of state tuition) is not a good argument that US schools are reasonably priced.

kaitai 12y ago
Looking at free MOOCs only is indeed cherry-picking data. Instead, one interesting example is remedial math at San Jose State University: a class students paid for and needed for college, implemented by Udacity. It went so poorly that the experiment was stopped [1]. The pass rates and test scores were so low that the university couldn't, in conscience, continue. There were some implementation problems, which have been addressed in a summer 2014 implementation [2]. It's worth noting that SJSU let 40% of students drop the summer course, which really increased the pass rate! [1] http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_23688069/mooc-mashup-san-jose-state-university-udacity-experiment http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_23688069/mooc-mashup-san-jose-... [2] http://www.informationweek.com/software/mooc-math-students-beat-on-campus-pass-rate/d/d-id/1111335 http://www.informationweek.com/software/mooc-math-students-b...?
- ceejayoz 12y ago
  They tried a MOOC for remedial classes? That's really baffling to me.
  - kaitai 12y ago
    Yes :( Unfortunately, a lot of politicians and administrators figure MOOCs are best targeted at the classes that have vast herds of students coming through, like remedial math and writing, rather than those little upper-level classes for advanced students (that profs love to teach!). But you can see the problem: the major predictor for success in a MOOC is study skills + maturity. The major predictor for being in a remedial math class? The lack of effective study skills. If these kids had great math self-teaching ability, they would have taught themselves out of remedial math a while ago (like half the kids in calculus).

by imgabe 12y ago

kaitai 12y ago

Looking at free MOOCs only is indeed cherry-picking data. Instead, one interesting example is remedial math at San Jose State University: a class students paid for and needed for college, implemented by Udacity. It went so poorly that the experiment was stopped [1]. The pass rates and test scores were so low that the university couldn't, in conscience, continue. There were some implementation problems, which have been addressed in a summer 2014 implementation [2]. It's worth noting that SJSU let 40% of students drop the summer course, which really increased the pass rate! [1] http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_23688069/mooc-mashup-san-jose-state-university-udacity-experiment http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_23688069/mooc-mashup-san-jose-... [2] http://www.informationweek.com/software/mooc-math-students-beat-on-campus-pass-rate/d/d-id/1111335 http://www.informationweek.com/software/mooc-math-students-b...?

ceejayoz 12y ago
They tried a MOOC for remedial classes? That's really baffling to me.
- kaitai 12y ago
  Yes :( Unfortunately, a lot of politicians and administrators figure MOOCs are best targeted at the classes that have vast herds of students coming through, like remedial math and writing, rather than those little upper-level classes for advanced students (that profs love to teach!). But you can see the problem: the major predictor for success in a MOOC is study skills + maturity. The major predictor for being in a remedial math class? The lack of effective study skills. If these kids had great math self-teaching ability, they would have taught themselves out of remedial math a while ago (like half the kids in calculus).