I hate Coursera's model, though. They just replicated the school/college model into the web, and that's stupid.
Having to wait for sessions doesn't make any sense, as does having a pre-defined time to complete. The study material should be always available, and peer review could be constant.
It seems it was created to appeal academia though, so I see why it's like that.
As an anecdote in the other direction, I love the fact that the courses have a pre-defined schedule and end date.
Without deadlines, a serial procrastinator like myself would never finish a course.
At Udacity, I've successfully completed the two classes I took when they were first released (and had deadlines). On the other hand, I only lasted around a week with the two classes that are under "open enrollment".
Why not offer both options? Either take it at a predefined pace in line with academic semesters or at your own pace. Seems like it would be the best of both worlds.
Because procrastination is the inability to deal with self-set deadlines. By definition, even: "the action of delaying or postponing something." Which means that a self-imposed deadline gets set back indefinitely, forever.
I'm of the same mind as markdown—simple Udacity and iTunes U classes were ignored, but Jeff Leek's much, much harder Biostatistics class was something I completed relatively easily (the deadlines at least. And I did pass.)
The sad truth is the majority of people (and I am one) are not suited for autodidactical learning. The motivation may or may not be there, but the ability to push forward as per Socrates' mythical student was told is not. Those deadlines, in light of human nature, are the killer feature.
I disagree to an extent. For some classes (it's quite variable), the forums can be of great quality, and it can be greatly enriching to be learning the material (and educational tangents that occur in the forums) along with lots of others. It's just not possible to get a cohort of people learning things at the same time as you on your own.
In fact, I am kind of hoping that a community is made where people can get together and study any educational material themselves. Coursera still lacks upper-level classes; it would be great to use the great aggregation of the internet to find a group of people to study advanced material together.
Having to wait for sessions doesn't make any sense, as does having a pre-defined time to complete. The study material should be always available, and peer review could be constant.
It seems it was created to appeal academia though, so I see why it's like that.