[unicornhose]

Many parts of the elephant: no motivation to work on hard things without friends, professors, campus, well-paying jobs, and high-status contacts.

Would be interesting to see MOOCs on daily stuff: cooking, gardening, cleaning & organizing, style, hospitality.

Or MOOCs around hobbies: amateur radio, photography, sketching, watercolor, dance, music. Here there’s potential for the tech to meet users halfway.

[giaour]

You can absolutely find video tutorials on all the hobbies and daily stuff you list, and in most communities you can find groups that will teach you informally for free or in a slightly more structured way for a nominal fee. Where formal credentials exist, they tend to be based on observed skills (like a culinary arts degree or certification as a sommelier). I'm not sure the demand for MOOCs is there for most hobbies.

There are some exceptions for hobbies with a well delimited body of knowledge (eg birdwatching)

[svnt]

I agree with parent — there is no prestige issue and other contributing factors include a desire for specialized community that is absent in later years, plus reduced ability to/interest in relocating.

While you can certainly get it for free, having a cohort and a badge that perhaps could serve as a prerequisite could benefit all students and all teachers/schools.