[fny]

Coursera simply mirrors collegiate pedagogy: a professor lectures you for an hour, you take a quiz here and there, and then there are some larger assessments that prove mastery. Study habits and methods are entirely left up to the student. You could employ Dr. Oakley's methods, whatever works for you, or just breeze by without truly internalizing anything.

Coursera's missing one powerful dynamic of a traditional university, however: incentives to remember beyond a class.

Say you coast your freshman year without internalizing: you'll pay the price the following year or when you take some cumulative assessment like the MCAT.

With Coursera everything still feels very disjointed. Even in the specializations, knowledge doesn't need to compound for success. You can easily succeed in edutainment mode. Why take notes when you can use your hands for popcorn?