[Aurornis]

> I don't get this gloom and doom about MOOCs.

> A substantial amount of people have transformed their lives by learning from MOOCs.

MOOCs are great and I agree: A lot of people have benefited.

The only disappointment is relative to the impossible hype cycle that was happening when MOOCs first entered the scene. You couldn’t open a MOOC relayed article or thread without some speculation that this would be the death of expensive university educations. That obviously didn’t happen, but MOOCs have been quite valuable on their own when well executed.

The primary disappointment I’ve seen is the half-baked courses that have been put out there. The first MOOC I tried was great and well run. The next two or three felt like they assigned some undergrad student a make-work project to put some old course materials on a website but they left out key parts. I remember it almost felt intentional, like someone didn’t want to put too much of the material online or the professor had objected to sharing their materials. They just wanted to say they got in on the MOOC train.

The later generation of courses that were made for the Internet were far better executed, of course, but they weren’t as plentiful and widespread as the hype predicted.

[t_mann]

> this would be the death of expensive university educations. That obviously didn’t happen

Maybe a bit early to declare that, as the wave of college closures has shown no signs of slowing after the Covid years [0] and is expected to accelerate further [1]?

[0] https://www.2adays.com/blog/college-shutdown-surge-update-th...

[1] https://www.fastcompany.com/91245055/higher-education-crisis...

[vintermann]

It isn't MOOCs which is killing them in any case, though. Or do you disagree?

[t_mann]

Depends on whether we're talking about MOOCs in a narrow sense or online learning more generally.

[vintermann]

So you think online learning is killing college? That doesn't sound very likely to me. Why do you think it is?

[t_mann]

It's a factor, together with high tuition fees, demographic changes, changing attitudes about credentialism (the political tide turning against liberal elite institutions), the cheap 24/7 availability of excellent learning materials online might kill "college as we know it" (in the US). US college is much more than education, it's a lifestyle, with lavish amenities, extracurriculars, varsity sports, all sorts of counselling. It's a bit of an anomaly, most universities globally are much more bare-bone. If US students start value shopping, the US college landscape might start to look more like that.

[__rito__]

This makes sense.

But if we start benchmarking the effects of anything against its its Sillicon Valley-flavored hype, then, every tech/X-train will be judged as underwhelming, not reaching its "potential".