[objclxt]

Some of the cynicism around Coursera (and Udacity) isn't around the way the education is delivered, but the business model.

Both Coursera and Udacity are for-profit businesses, and both have yet to reveal (or decide) how they want to make that profit. Many current for-profit providers of education are not particularly well respected (University of Phoenix, Kaplan, etc). Some non-profit universities are understandable a little hesitant to work with Coursera and Udacity without a better understanding of how exactly they propose to make money (both have many suggestions, but nothing concrete as of yet).

This cynicism is one reason why some universities have decided to "go it alone" (MIT/Harvard/Berkeley being the most notable with edX).

To be clear, I'm not saying this is my viewpoint: I think very highly of both Coursera and Udacity. I just wanted to point out that some of the cynicism stems not from the idea of open access to teaching and knowledge, but from the worries over working with for-profit companies to achieve that aim.

[mogrim]

My guess is that they're running it free as a sort of massive beta test, once they've got the format sorted they'll start including paying courses - quite possibly as follow up to free ones (for example Scala I is free, Scala II costs you money).

And, personally, I'm very grateful to them for hosting such excellent free courses at the moment - the quality has generally been pretty high on the ones I've done, and the format is excellent. If they start making money off it, good for them.

[thomaslangston]

I'd more likely expect all the content to be free, but course completion certifications to cost money.

Edit: This would be particularly useful if the certifications were convertible into course credit at participating universities.

[mogrim]

How would that work online? Cheating is already a problem - there's nothing to stop you googling for the answer to a given assignment, or getting your clever best friend to help you out.

[ippisl]

I wonder if it's part of a strategy of creating a huge userbase and alot of content and data all of which will help you lead the field in the future(and be the most profitable). And nothing helps more to create this sorts of things than "free".