Massive Open Online Courses won’t replace college. It may be part of the puzzle, but there is no replacement for having peers and mentors to go to and ask questions.
However, I think MOOCs will start to replace textbooks. These Courses-as-a-Service (School-as-a-Service?) serve as supplementary material to those already trying to learn something new. Signing up for one of these courses serves a similar function to purchasing a textbook.
Some are doing this better than others. Take Treehouse, which is offers some of the better online programming courses, they offer engaging videos, and projects that go with them. Treehouse is more like a TV show, or a weird YouTube channel than a class.
I read somewhere that about 80 percent of those that sign up for a class drop out (Ill look for the source). That doesn’t surprise me. I haven’t finished 90 percent of the programming textbooks I have. The reasons are the same – I own more than I have time to complete, and I use them as a reference.
> Massive Open Online Courses won’t replace college. It may be part of the puzzle, but there is no replacement for having peers and mentors to go to and ask questions.
You can have peers and mentors to go to and ask questions online just as well as you can in real life. Better, in fact, since your pool of mentors and peers is much larger. Take the programming industry. If you have questions about a particular programming concept, library, language, framework, etc. you can easily find a dedicated, knowledgeable group to bounce questions off. There's no reason why this couldn't work in other fields.
However, I think MOOCs will start to replace textbooks. These Courses-as-a-Service (School-as-a-Service?) serve as supplementary material to those already trying to learn something new. Signing up for one of these courses serves a similar function to purchasing a textbook.
Some are doing this better than others. Take Treehouse, which is offers some of the better online programming courses, they offer engaging videos, and projects that go with them. Treehouse is more like a TV show, or a weird YouTube channel than a class.
I read somewhere that about 80 percent of those that sign up for a class drop out (Ill look for the source). That doesn’t surprise me. I haven’t finished 90 percent of the programming textbooks I have. The reasons are the same – I own more than I have time to complete, and I use them as a reference.
EDIT: Spelling