So much of the discussion about the modern collegiate market is about online courses. Will they be cheaper than traditional courses? Will they be as effective – or more effective? What types of students will benefit the most from them?
I have opinions (oh, do I have opinions!), but that’s not a substitute for data and experience. Why not take a MOOC and see what the fuss is about? And so, I have registered for a course at Coursera, one of the many firms offering online college courses. It is a University of Pennsylvania course on the History of the Slave South. Most of the economic history that I’ve studied has been about industrial economies, so this will be a good educational experience. I’ll also get to find out more about other teaching styles and learn more about how MOOCs work.
Given that I am well beyond my undergraduate years, I’m thinking it will be easy, but we’ll see.
The big problem I feel with these MOOC, is that they are available for free. The lack of a price tag on the course, makes the user not show the seriousness that is expected from a paid course. This causes the abysmal course completion rate of the MOOCs (around 5% if I’m not wrong).
However, I’m sure you’re among the minority of people who are actually deliberate and take advantage of the MOOCs. Good Luck with the course, I’d love to hear an update 🙂
So far, so good – but I’ve already discovered that it’s a condensed, less-intense, version of the course given on campus. That’s fine for my purposes, but may not work for everyone.