MOOC Leader EdX Turns One: What's Next?

By Michael Fitzgerald. We know what EdX officials wished for when they blew out the candles on the cake. But what do we wish for them? Like anything in its infancy, MOOCs are full of possibilities and promise, but their path is unpredictable. I wish MOOCs had fewer problems. They can be just as flat and unengaging as a real-world lecture, maybe worse. We get dazzled by 150,000 people signing up, and forget that only 5% of them finish a class. Even the worst public schools do not suffer 95% dropout rates. That might not seem like a fair comparison; after all, communities make it harder to drop out of school. But MOOC students at least have gone through the process of registering for a class, so you would think they would want to complete it. Read more...