Given that pace required to learn the equivalent of a liberal arts BA in just twelve months using only MOOCs and other forms of free learning, the time I’ve dedicated to learning within a community has been fairly minimal. I’ve commented previously on the lack of reward for participating in discussion forums (although if and […]

I mentioned yesterday that creating a study group (physical or virtual) out of the enrollee pool of a MOOC class (even a huge one) is tough to pull off. But that might just be because by the time a class has started, it’s too late to create a learning community to take the course together. […]

Ask a MOOC champion or critic what’s most lacking in a massive open online course and you’ll likely get some variant on “interaction with others.” Small classrooms where students get to build relationships with teachers clearly provide something a large-scale online experience cannot (and even small online classes struggle to create intimate teacher-to-student bonds). I […]