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Ask HN: What frustrates you most about online learning?

3 points by mikegreenberg ↗ HN
Hello all,

I've been exploring an idea lately and wanted to get your opinion on this. I think it's clear that online learning will transform education as we know it. There are many benefits to the coming education model (notably, cost of learning approaching nil) however it is not without it's shortcomings.

So without any prompting or conditioning, I'm curious to know what frustrates you most about learning online today. Are there aspects of traditional learning that have been left behind?

9 comments

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tomordonez
Maybe I am old style but I am not driven by badges and the whole gamification. If I am given deadlines and pressure I push myself to learn. I don't think current online solutions give this. I also need someone to keep pushing me. Not a computer but a real person. I opened an account for Treehouse with a student discount about 5 months ago. Guess how many times I logged in. It is too laid back. Maybe it needs a small support group that you can join so everybody keeps tabs on each other and make sure you are doing your homework.
mikegreenberg
So how does that "accountability" feature look to you. Is that like a community that's completing the course at the same time? Or maybe a simulated coach that shoots encouragement at you?
tomordonez
someone that nags me every so often. It might be a small group completing the course at the same time. You could join a group and it keeps track of individual progress. The group should have a leader with superior skills that mentors the group and nags everybody to do the homework on time, reply to questions, etc. The group could have an IRC channel or a Campfire open all the time and schedule official meeting times. Get a weekly notification of my current progress and everybody's progress so I can help somebody else if they are behind. The class should be based on mentoring, team work and deadlines.
blakerson
Would you take said nagging seriously?

Being nagged by a peer or even a 'leader' you don't meet may never be as effective as being nagged by an actual classroom teacher, whose authority most students recognize.

mikegreenberg
I'm not sure a guilt-based approach is going to work best for the majority. I'm no psych major, but I'm certain positive reinforcement has better influence overall then otherwise.

The other thing you point out which seems unrelated to the motivation end of things seems to be communication with fixed times to meet. While I think the encouragement of other people going through the same steps you have to perform builds motivation to continue, are there other reasons why this is important to you?

plinkplonk
Most online learning courses aren't particularly challenging. There are exceptions (Coursera's Probabilistic Graphical Models, MitX's circuits etc) but most courses seem watered down for online consumption.

One big flaw I can see is that there is no way to do proofs or otherwise handle theory in the problems sets and assignments. This limits exploration in depth, particularly for math/science/CS.

mikegreenberg
More often than not, I find being able to share visual information gets thrown at a side-tool that the community adopts for this specific purpose. Something like Google Docs (drawing doc) or some whiteboard app.

What, if any, efforts are made to find a solution like this (or related)?

bvlaar
I've followed tutorials online, used Treehouse, and other services to learn online. They are useful, but for me, there is one aspect missing: help. I'm currently in university and If I have a question in class or during a study session, there is ALWAYS someone to help. I get frustrated and discouraged when I'm following a class and don't understand anything, I search the web for help and can't find much to do with the exact topic I need help with. This in turn, makes me stop enjoying that class and can eventually lead to giving up. It would be great for these online education providers to use an IM client, IRC room or something to facilitate student discussion for classmates to discuss lectures, ideas, and help each other.
erinyx
For a start I found being part of a class with limitless number of students very chaotic and at times a waste of time. Having to go through the various projects, knowing it would be physically impossible to be reviewed as expected in a traditional course..