I'm glad to say I am not one of the droppers-off - I made it to the end of my MOOC. We had an extra assignment of critiquing a work of art but I did enjoy reading some of those posted. Unfortunately this was also the first week I really became aware of how nasty people can be in the forums. There was a real bullying mentality going on in one thread and it left me feeling like I wanted to run a mile from it all. If the numbers of students are too big for effective moderation, then I guess it's just a free for all. The majority were lovely, kind, friendly, supportive people but it's the nastiness I remember now. On the plus side, there is a tuition group now formed on Facebook which I'm going to try to keep up with.
There was a long interesting forum thread where students were posting their opinions of the MOOC. General themes seemed to be that it wasn't quite what people thought (suggested that they rewrite the blurb) but enjoyable. Recurring criticism of the videos too but generally thanks to the tutors and Penn State for putting the course on. I'm hoping there will be some kind of review by the tutors where they say how they thought it went. If there is, I'll post a link.
My MOOC days are over now for a while. It's been hugely illuminating and I feel 100% more informed on the MOOC world. I saw first hand where the librarians would have come in useful (e.g. developing copyright advice, additional resources, providing support) but little evidence that our expertise was included in development. I'm also going to be signing up for a face to face art class in September so I shall approach that in the spirit of comparison - not least because it will cost real money as well as time & effort!
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