[brudolph]

I'm sorry if I made it confusing, but it really isn't about whether I signed up for 229 or 229a, the point is most of my classes for the coming term are now under this new online format and it would be shame to see them lower their standards to fit the public.

[gfodor]

It's a good point -- I guess we'll find out next semester if the difficulty being below average had to do with the nature of the class itself (the a in 229a) or the audience it was being developed for. I hope, if the classes you mention are listed under the same course number they always have, that the difficulty won't be less than usual.

For the rest of us, what classes are these? Part of the reason an easier class is better for the public is because there's just less time for working people. If the difficulty/time commitment for the offered classes next semester are substantially more than 229a I'd imagine you'll see a much higher dropout rate not due to lack of ability but due to lack of time. It seems odd Stanford would try to pack a "real" course into the online/public format, but at the same time seems odd they'd dilute a "real" course for their undergraduates.

[gcb]

The easier assignments are easier because they now have morehints alongside.

this i guess is not to ease for lazy slobs (what you described :) but to ease the demand for help on the staff.

The critic is that they overdid

[cmdrreiki]

I agree, but would prefer to keep the standards high for the public rather than see the courses separated. I enjoyed the first few ml-class lessons, but I quickly became bored with the difficulty level.

[pwnguin]

But should classes be hard for being hard's sake, or should they be hard when learning the material requires it?