I find most of the comments on this post fascinating. Probably partly due to the audience, and partly due to the slant the author took on the topic.

His bait is retention .. and that's something HN readers understand from a business POV. But retention isn't his issue. Retention is a problem for Coursera et al.

His problem (and mine) is that we (personally) found it hard to stay the course. And Coursera don't help us.

I've a full time job, two side projects, a small business and a family. I'm about to start the Gamification course and I probably wont finish it because I don't have time. Not because I don't want to, but because the course expects all students to spend 4-6 hours per week studying. Those weeks would be rare for me.

How hard would it be to offer a 2 hour-per-week version? Or whatever commitment I'm able to make? Then, when the inevitable happens, let me hit the 'pause' button.