MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) do more good than harm.

I would first like to apologize to my opponent for misquoting the percentages. I was meaning to say completion rate for the low percentages not dropout rate. I do understand that the dropout rate is the high percentage. However, also on the topic of percentages, in my opponent's last argument he or she brought in the number of 30 as a percent. That number is completely new to my knowledge. My opponent did clarify the completion percentage to be 13% though, I thank him for that. Again I apologize for miss quoting the percentages completely my fault. Now onto my rebuttal and closing remarks. I'm glad both me and my opponent have come to agree that watching videos and answering questions is classified to be learning. I also agree completely with my opponent that MOOCs are not the very top tier of learning environments. However, that is not the debate at hand. The question is do they cause more harm than good. I stand by my claim that they are far more helpful than they are hurtful. However, even though they are not the absolute best they still offer a quality education (even if its not the absolute best) to those who would otherwise be unable to attain it. Just as the blind person receiving limited but not perfect sight. Now on to this blind person analogy that is "irrelevant". Perhaps I am to blame for choosing the analogy of the blind person. I thought it could easily represent the situation at hand. I will try to explain this analogy once and for all to clarify. I believe the problem we are facing is that my opponent took the analogy to be literal when in fact it is not. It is only an analogy. I was in no way speaking of a MOOC educating a blind person. Let me explain. The blind person is symbolic of a student. This student has on knowledge of a particular subject, and thus "blind". The doctor offering treatment and the treatment itself represent the type of education being given. Since I agree with my opponent that MOOCs do not offer flawless education, let traditional, classroom-oriented learning represent perfect vision. Where as MOOCs represent partial but not perfect vision. If you off an education (sight) to a student (blind person) are they going to be excited and thankful for the partial vision (MOOCs) or are they going to consider this a bad thing. Obviously they are going to enjoy having vision at all, even if its not perfect. That was the point I was trying to make in the first place. Perhaps it is my fault if I was unclear, however, I thought it was easy to follow. I do however, believe my opponents claim that I created false contradictions between his or her arguments is incorrect. I will again refer back to quotes to help my case. In my opponent's last argument he stated "My first argument did not at all state that MOOCs present students with a challenge. " However, in his first argument he stated. " they have made discussion a challenge for students. " Would making a discussion a challenge for students present students with a challenge. I would say clearly so, and thus would like to argue that I in no way conjured up false contradictions in my opponents arguments. I would like to look at the topic at hand one last time and argue my case. Do MOOCs offer a quality education even if it is not perfect, yes. However, all systems of learning have their flaws. None are perfect. However the main question at hand here is-- Do they do more harm than good. I think the evidence speaks for itself. Clearly they do not do more harm than good. Even if they do not allow for perfect student teacher interaction I do not believe they in any way are more harmful than they are helpful. That is the soul purpose of MOOCs, to be helpful. If they weren't helpful then there wouldn't be near as much interest in them and the fear of MOOCs becoming "the new thing to do" would not exist. Therefore, I would like to argue that MOOCs are far more beneficial than they are harmful. Too close, I would like to thank my opponent for sighting the sources for their percentages as well as for a great debate. I thought the debate was interesting and a lot can be learned from both sides. I think my opponent represented his or her argument well and was very clear with his facts. I do apologize if I was not as clear at times. This was my first debate so I am still getting the hang of it. (Blind person analogy haha) I will try to gather my thoughts more before my next debate.