Not sure it's fair to compare compulsory (or even well-motviated) education with most MOOCs.
I have a PhD and a research job, so I think it's fair to say that I can learn independently and like doing so. And yet, my Coursera account is full of half-completed classes that weren't quite what I wanted: too easy, too hard, topic isn't what I wanted, presentation isn't my style, etc.
It looks, in short, just like my Netflix queue and that isn't surprising because they're both things I do in my pajamas. The situation would be very different if there were actual consequences for finishing these MOOCs (or Lost).
I have a PhD and a research job, so I think it's fair to say that I can learn independently and like doing so. And yet, my Coursera account is full of half-completed classes that weren't quite what I wanted: too easy, too hard, topic isn't what I wanted, presentation isn't my style, etc.
It looks, in short, just like my Netflix queue and that isn't surprising because they're both things I do in my pajamas. The situation would be very different if there were actual consequences for finishing these MOOCs (or Lost).