[milesvp]

This is a big one. I sat in on a number of 400 level CS courses after I graduated, and a big factor was just having a scheduled place to be, and homework assignment due dates that forced the correct pace for learning. The pace also made it easy to start the work early, but not obsess if I hit a roadblock, since there was a lot of opportunity to ask questions leading up to the due date. I don’t think I’d have gotten through the same course work without the classroom lectures. Double bonus was the social aspect, talking to other students and regularly walking with the prof after class.

[sdaslo]

How did you stay motivated to finish the homework or projects to the same degree as if you were being graded? I feel like the one factor that changes the equation is that grading inherently motivates even those who want to learn for learnings sake - it forces you to move faster and study harder with time and grade challenges.

Do you feel like you learned the material to a level that you would have had it been graded for you??

[milesvp]

I was one of those students who didn’t care about the grade except as a proxy for learning. I never understood why other students would try to argue with profs about test grades, when it was clear they list points because they misunderstood something. That said, the thing that kept me from getting C’s in courses I didn’t like was that I was motivated to do at least decent at the things I do.

For the classes I sat in on, the motivation was that I was interested in the topic. But the social aspect really helped. Even though I wasn’t enrolled, knowing I was going through the same pain helped. I’m not surprised that MOOCs havn’t taken off like people assumed they would. There is nothing like sitting near people to really feel like doing something.

[iguy]

I think that one of the under-rated aspects of having classmates is finding out how little they understand. From the professor it's easy to get an idea of what the perfect student would know, in week 5, but it's much more helpful to have some realistic benchmarks.

Besides, of course, getting to bounce ideas off each other, etc.

[sdaslo]

Interesting. I agree about the MOOCs. It takes a lot of willpower and even then, it just doesn’t feel the same. There’s something about being forced to show up and sit through two hours of intellectual rigor and at least try to understand as much as possible. I guess it’s the same reason people go to the library to study.

Btw did you ask the profs if you could take the exams , and did you? Were they willing to? They are usually a little averse to extra work lol.

[josephjrobison]

How do you sit in on classes?

Do you actually just show up? Or do you have to audit the class and register, but for free?

[abecedarius]

I have just shown up and asked the prof if they minded, at the end of the first class.

The irritating thing nowadays is that sometimes materials are behind a wall on the university website.