Enjoying this a lot. As a MOOCs’ junkie, I particular appreciate how colleges and universities are putting their classes online. When I was a student, it wasn’t like I was always sitting at the front of every class asking all kinds of questions. In fact, like most people, we’re just passive learners expecting to learn from the professors. So, MOOCs, for me, are similar to being in a physical classroom.

In addition, it’s probably a bit better than being in a classroom because the professors who are offering courses online seem to be much more interested in really teaching people. It’s their chance to show to the world the very skill that they have in order to cultivate more cultural capital.

My former professor who did an online class once said to me, “I work about 10 times harder to put together an online course — I can look unprepared in a class of 50 people but I cannot afford to be an old grumpy and unprepared professor to millions of people on the internet.”