Received: by 10.50.153.199 with SMTP id vi7mr7544688igb.0.1352775305833; Mon, 12 Nov 2012 18:55:05 -0800 (PST) X-BeenThere: scala-melb@googlegroups.com Received: by 10.42.129.139 with SMTP id q11ls10464008ics.5.gmail; Mon, 12 Nov 2012 18:55:05 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.42.56.77 with SMTP id y13mr12621096icg.16.1352775305068; Mon, 12 Nov 2012 18:55:05 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.42.56.77 with SMTP id y13mr12621095icg.16.1352775305046; Mon, 12 Nov 2012 18:55:05 -0800 (PST) Return-Path: Received: from mail-ie0-f176.google.com (mail-ie0-f176.google.com [209.85.223.176]) by gmr-mx.google.com with ESMTPS id d5si1356646iga.1.2012.11.12.18.55.05 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=OTHER); Mon, 12 Nov 2012 18:55:05 -0800 (PST) Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of brhutchi...@gmail.com designates 209.85.223.176 as permitted sender) client-ip=209.85.223.176; Authentication-Results: gmr-mx.google.com; spf=pass (google.com: domain of brhutchi...@gmail.com designates 209.85.223.176 as permitted sender) smtp.mail=brhutchi...@gmail.com; dkim=pass header...@gmail.com Received: by mail-ie0-f176.google.com with SMTP id k11so11470076iea.35 for ; Mon, 12 Nov 2012 18:55:05 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :content-type; bh=2w95xqJ3AESvmPNLbLy6PBM1IV+0aliqOTgOAoicr1I=; b=rAFl39o3xB7Y3UnxDMyggLkyCW3dx3rFFGDhufGnvtjGlMJ1RcRaoeYwGePm8kMZhf XAsJc5l3QicLaGtL3GlymPFZve+7bnFfkgbxYiY8KFTZkhGZDi1PQ8TzuIHTX16rlXWy yuC3/qfv7Pqb3zAvYHkAgr6TuXuEbz0iKLwy9Cs6gbTdw8hHnrl9edIJiMyZk1RY+kss CM7QMwtJVdY5sC6KcOyz0P2cLxp4hgM5etHsPLziznJg/qbi6oPJ8DWu7/nBEVJ3yk6w VCQVzZwMl/mH0fQ0kOqTTlj9pXW5cWdpcsGLBao9eL7xr7uD+Qx1GXtK3fHVIi4ZaCV9 jrGg== MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.50.219.170 with SMTP id pp10mr9702413igc.53.1352775304934; Mon, 12 Nov 2012 18:55:04 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.64.19.210 with HTTP; Mon, 12 Nov 2012 18:55:04 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: References: Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 13:55:04 +1100 Message-ID: Subject: Re: How we all going with the Coursera Scala course? From: Ben Hutchison To: "scala-melb@googlegroups.com" Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=14dae93403cf82f50e04ce578b07 --14dae93403cf82f50e04ce578b07 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 On Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 1:15 PM, Jonathan Merritt wrote: > It often seemed to me that a person who could complete the assignments > without significant problems would learn rather little from the > accompanying lectures. > Agree. After the second week I skipped most of the lectures and just did the assignments. > > Finally, I found it somewhat frustrating that Coursera chose to run the > course within a fixed time period. Personally, it would have been nice to > be able to put it on hiatus for three or four weeks to cope with activity > spikes elsewhere. > Fixed time frame's are the norm for MOOCsright now, perhaps because (a) a habit from "real-people" courses where the lecturers cannot be bottled, (b) real people must be scheduled to manage forums and handle assessment anomalies, (c) concerns about solution-sharing, (d) a perception (probably true) that people will be more motivated by studying together. Certainly, this thread would be less likely to exist if we'd all taken the course at different times. Some of the oldest (ie 2 years!), most established courses, like https://www.coursera.org/course/db, offer a self-study mode, and I reckon it will become widespread once the courses can basically "run themselves" -Ben > Jonathan Merritt. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Melbourne Scala User Group" group. > To post to this group, send an email to scala-melb@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > scala-melb+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/scala-melb?hl=en-GB. > --14dae93403cf82f50e04ce578b07 Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 1:15 PM, Jonathan Merritt <j.s.merr...@gmail.c= om> wrote:
=A0It often seemed to me that a person who could comp= lete the assignments without significant problems would learn rather little= from the accompanying lectures. =A0

Agree. After the second week I skipped mos= t of the lectures and just did the assignments.
=A0

Finally, I found it somewhat frustrating that Coursera = chose to run the course within a fixed time period. =A0Personally, it would= have been nice to be able to put it on hiatus for three or four weeks to c= ope with activity spikes elsewhere.

Fixed time frame's are the norm for MOOCs= right now, perhaps because=A0

(a) a habit from &q= uot;real-people" courses where the lecturers cannot be bottled,=A0

(b) real people must be scheduled to manage forums and = handle assessment anomalies,=A0

(c) concerns about= solution-sharing,=A0

(d) a perception (probably t= rue) that people will be more motivated by studying together. Certainly, th= is thread would be less likely to exist if we'd all taken the course at= different times.

Some of the oldest (ie 2 years!), most=A0established=A0= courses, like https://www.co= ursera.org/course/db, offer a self-study mode, and I reckon it will bec= ome widespread once the courses can basically "run themselves"
=A0
-Ben


Jonathan Merritt.

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