[benkant]

In my experience, both with self-study and at university, the best way to gain and retain knowledge is by working problems. To do this you need: demonstrations of the concepts, problems, hints and solutions.

Hints and solutions can be time consuming to obtain at university (office hours) and might be impossible if you can't find instructor manuals for self-study.

Khan Academy makes the most sense to me. You work the problems until you can't, at which point you use the hints or watch the videos. Then continue.

The only lectures that were useful to me at university was the first one, where they discussed how the class would run, and the last one where they discussed the exam.

Labs and tutorials were useful if I wanted to get hints on how to work problems.

I agree with TFA. Videos should by no means be the focus. They can be very helpful demonstrations. If the goal is to be able to solve problems, that's what you should be spending the most time doing.

[webwanderings]

Not that I frequent many MOOCs, but I have not seen Khan Academy like techniques anywhere else, not even at edX. I think KA's got it right. They've got the best possible solution which will evolve things to the next level, if MOOCs are to stay afloat in the future.

[analog31]

In my experience, both with self-study and at university, the best way to gain and retain knowledge is by working problems. To do this you need: demonstrations of the concepts, problems, hints and solutions.

Oddly enough, I found this to be the case, even in my humanities courses. I learned more about a subject by having to write about it, than from merely reading or memorizing for an exam.

[rhino369]

>In my experience, both with self-study and at university, the best way to gain and retain knowledge is by working problems.

I'm this way too, but I don't think everyone is. I think a successful program should include problem solving, reading, and audio/visual.

Because people learn differently.