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Re: [Phys-L] Is Higher Education Running AMOOC?



As they say... Youth is wasted on the young... However, we older folks are not the demographic the media caters to. They seem to forget we are in those years when our IRA's are starting to be tapped and pensions and social security (the old three legged retirement stool) are enabling us to go on cruises and enjoy life. That includes taking on-line courses because we have time and the maturity to get something from them.

On May 21, 2013, at 6:10 PM, Leigh Palmer wrote:

I am currently enrolled in a MOOC* and I am enjoying it very much. Oh, yes, by the way, I expect that I am also learning from it, but the revelation here is that the MOOC is entertaining. I think there is a great and rapidly growing market for MOOCs among my peers, retired presenile retirees who have the spare time, inclination, and taste necessary to engage with high quality learning. At the present we are already wasting hours in front of screens at less rewarding activities like watching reruns of old "Big Bang Theory" episodes and reading blogs that reinforce our prejudices. If some clever entrepreneur figures out haw to monetize MOOCs and market them to codgers like me he will get rich. MOOCs may also have a role to play in university education, but only a few fortunately located retirees who could attend university are now doing so. The traditional university still offers many attractions, most of them extracurricular, that will continue to convince young people to go deeply in
to debt to participate in their offerings. I think the ultimate financial success of MOOCs depends on marketing them, as they are, to us old folks.

Leigh

*<https://class.coursera.org/usefulgenetics-001/>
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