Drop outs in online classes

The Drop-outs!!!

The great argument, the huge worry, the reason why.... I don't think so... In other forums my attention has been redirected to some talks about drop outs in online classes... So, here are some thoughts....

Online courses have had high rates of drop-out no matter if they pay or not for them, or any other circumstance, occurrence. Natural disaster, you name it... It is hard. You are not in contact with humans. You see people in the past. They are not with you. We are fragile; our human nature needs to exercise all their senses to communicate, and to feel the entire experience of learning. I have hearing some comments about persons thinking that the computer voice is actually a real person talking to them when they learn a language and having feelings for the computer voice. Yes, it is deceptive if you are looking for human contact. To isolate your brain and accept knowledge in its pure form takes time and self training, if you are used to read, study, or listen to audio books by yourself it is easier. It is like training people to drive cars for the first time, it took time, and a whole support system to develop humanity capable of detached themselves from the technologies before the cars. The answer you know it. It is going to take time and the ability with real inventiveness to move entire societies to this new way of learning. That is why we need a robot to follow the learning experience of every single student, and to catch up with our natural detachment from the learning machine. The technology is there. Udacity is putting it together. Have you noticed it? It is all around you, the messages, the forums, the announcements, the meet ups, the challenges. I know there is people that has been evaluating this in other ways than the expected, and that is because values, and culture differs from the main idea of Udacity, and also because  it is an experiment with incredible results right now that needs to be adjusted as it evolves. I have seen other online things going on, and clearly for me they have not  what Udacity has, but that is another theme to talk about.

Being Grumpy…

Being grumpy when your environment is changing and your routines are challenged is normal; everybody wants a peaceful invariant set of rules, traditions to follow, in person reassurance. I agree with you, sometimes when you sign to an online course seems really impersonal. Where am I? How come a person is just saying something without looking at me, at my reactions? So impersonal, but nowadays we need to do things in a very impersonal way, like buying clothes online… There is nobody telling you, wow! You look fantastic, but then you interact with people, you know that your online buying has an effect. It is the same with education; you know the effect of your learning, and knowledge, when you take decisions, when you get a job, when you create!
Are you worried about the drop-out rates? I encourage you to take a statistics class at Udacity, so you can measure, correlate, and have an ample perspective of a normal phenomenon.
Start with an experiment is the way science has advanced. So what is wrong with the word experiment? The freedom to stay in a class or to leave is linked to the survival state of a person, we have known of people struggling war, pregnancies, isolation, and many other extreme circumstances, while taking an online class that makes entirely successful the idea that free online education is there for humanity, it gives hope and confidence… It is for you at any time, and whenever you can.
What is the purpose of learning? Have you accomplished your dream job? Do you think that you need to improve your intellectual acumen? There are many fast ways to know if a person is learning, like quizzes, and so on. At the end of each course in Udacity and in Coursera you fill a questionnaire. So they are asking, they know your score, and maybe they know how you are learning. And that is personal, very personal. Change is scary but Nature changes. Don’t worry and embrace the change, at no charge
And BTW there are specific causes for drop outs in traditional education institutions, but that is another theme to give it a thought some other time.