Dive Summary:
- Anya Kamenetz looks at why San Jose State's online learning collaboration with Udacity was paused after disappointing results and finds some likely explanations for the low pass rates in the courses.
- Kamenetz says many of the students lacked computers or Internet access at home; at one site, the 45 high-schoolers taking the Udacity course had to compete with hundreds of other students for time on the school's lab computers.
- The courses weren't quite finished when they began; professors were still writing curricula when the courses started and two of the courses were posted without any deadlines or assignments.
From the article:
... “We communicated our expectations poorly,” conceded [Sebastian] Thrun in an interview with the education newsletter Edsurge. “We had two deadline-free courses. Especially in these classes, students fell behind. That was a mistake.” ...
