[sumitgt]

I really used to love Udacity, but at some point their constant mini-quizzes just drove me nuts. Totally broke my flow.

I prefer the Pluralsight approach. Quickly going through some Pluralsight courses has really broadened my toolset.

I prefer to think of MOOCS as a way to augment what you learn via traditionally methods as opposed to replacing traditional education entirely.

[FLGMwt]

I actually went the opposite.

At some point I realized I was watching Pluralsight courses and declaring success because I finished the last video and therefore I was leveled up in that thing.

Quizzes on Udacity stuff and Coursera courses (especially Odersky's Scala one) often catch me cheating where I realize I had drifted and missed the information I'm being quizzed on. I'll go back and watch the relevant bit thoughtfully and then be able to answer.

[amerkhalid]

This is my experience too. Also I used to watch Coursera videos on Android App. But if I lose my position in a video, it was pain to figure out where I left off.

I like short videos cause much easier to recover where you left off from.

Also I am not a paying member of Udacity but seriously considering them for Android dev program.

[muraiki]

Sometimes it can be the opposite case. The Udacity course on statistics with Katie Kormanik has lots of well designed problems to work on as she taught various statistical concepts. This helped make sure that I really understood what was being taught and strongly cemented the concepts in my mind. That being said, this particular course is very well designed and it was clear that the instructor had actual experience _teaching_ (she has a M.Ed. from Stanford).

On the other hand, I've taken -- and given up on -- both Udacity and Coursera (more lecture oriented) courses that had absolutely abysmal instruction. I had no doubt in the instructor's skill at the particular domain, but it was clear they had no idea how to teach.

[spikefromspace]

Same here. The content is split into 2-5 minute videos and it constantly has to reload new videos and the mini quizzes interrupt the flow. I'd much rather watch a full 30min-1hour lecture in one go.

Personally though, I do think the content itself and the project reviews are helpful.

[lfowles]

> I prefer to think of MOOCS as a way to augment what you learn via traditionally methods as opposed to replacing traditional education entirely.

From the ones I've taken, they would be great as a replacement to the various Intro To X courses in a traditional curriculum. Although, I'm pretty sure half of my senior classes for my bachelors degree were still Intro To X!

[posterboy]

As an opposite argument, I valued the chance to skip hours of introductory video after simply solving the tests.

[criddell]

Pluralsight looks pretty neat. I'm looking for a Ruby on Rails course and it looks like they have a bunch.