Commenters on the AJC Get Schooled blog had a range of reactions to the new research questioning the efficacy of MOOCs, massive open online courses now offered by many of the nation’s top universities. The courses began with great pronouncements about how they would alter the delivery of higher education, but completion rates are dismal. A study of 1 million users of MOOCs found about half of the students who registered actually viewed a lecture, and only about 4 percent completed the courses. Here is a sampling of comments under posters’ chosen screen names:
Mattie: Online classes are wrong, as anyone can do the work. I know a person who earned a doctorate degree and did none of the work himself.
EduKtr: What was the cost per student of educating those who did complete the courses? How does the negligible cost compare to that of a brick-and-mortar institution? And is it accurate to assume — as critics so willingly do — that nothing at all is learned by those, like me, who have sampled Udacity courses merely out of curiosity? Or who find they must discontinue a course part way through?
Cream: Maybe there's something to the perception of value when something is "free" versus having to pay for it. If one has no skin in the game, then it's easy to just walk away.
CobbMom: Unfortunately, half of my students' parents would do the work for their children in online courses.
AtlantaMom: I question the education gained, even when a course is completed with an "A." I have a daughter who took algebra online in a classroom with a teacher available to her. She had no problem with the course, but very much felt that she had missed part of what she should have learned. She's a bright child and ended up with a degree in physics. She would never recommend an online math class.
Teacher: You have to tie an online course into a test at the end. You have to go to a testing center and take the test, and the test is pass or fail for the course. A good online course has experts talking and teaching the students, not just reading and graphs. If students could learn the advantages of a good online course and get used to it and, if they really want to learn the material, an online the course is a great way to go.
Lee: As a CPA, I am required to complete 40 hours of continuing professional education annually. A lot of CPE providers offer courses and seminars in a web-based format, or "webinars," as they call them. I've taken one or two and generally found them to be a waste of time. An online degree program would be pure torture.
Bear: I see the future of online work as a supplement to, rather than a replacement for, regular instruction. The best part of my education was hanging around with the professors before and after classes. I see nothing wrong with MOOCs for reaching people who can't access regular higher education, even if the completion rate is low. What's the harm?
