"Several students reported that the forums were designed for small groups, but had no apparent limits on the number who could join, so theoretically small groups quickly became large, unworkable groups, resulting in tons of e-mail notifications and little understanding of what to do.

The blog How People Learn Online noted that the course illustrated that when things go wrong on a MOOC, they go wrong in front of a larger group than even experienced professors have ever faced at one time.

"The course abruptly ended with an e-mail today," the post said. "It must have been very difficult for the instructor to try to continue to repair the issues with 40,000 students participating. This is a hard lesson to learn I imagine – MOOC design and traditional online course design are very different. I don’t think they were ready for the amplification of troubles and the cascading effects of what might be a minor issue in a traditional online course. There will be quite a few disappointed students. I have had technical glitches and have made poor design courses in the first run of many online courses over the years. But I never had to endure the crash and burn of a course that was taught in the open with so many witnesses. My sympathies are with the instructor…."