If you paid for it on the old Spark platform (over a year ago) those classes were migrated to their new system so you might need to resign up, but you shouldn't need to repay. The URL to use for requesting is: http://learner.coursera.help
One thing I like about Udemy (disclaimer: I work there) is the lifetime access policy for premium content.
I was under the impression that would remove access to old courses by June 30 for those who hadn't paid. Removing access for those who've paid goes too far.
It is tragically common for people (esp. kids) who would be fully capable of understanding the material to be hustled along at a pace that is determined by factors unrelated to their personal needs, forcing them into less-effective learning modes.
These artificially time-limited MOOCs potentially turn us all into such kids. If I'm trying to learn something for which my preparation was 20 years ago, I'll be as good as anyone after I finish the course, but I need more time to do it correctly. If I'm trying to learn something but only have an hour a week to allocate to it, it's my turn to be the "slow learner", but given the necessary time, I'll know the material as well as the fastest learner by the time I finish.
But MOOCs impose a schedule unrelated to my individual circumstances, and I can take it or leave it. It would be so much better if they just told me what to read, and whenever I finished reading, I could watch the corresponding video lecture, then I could go to an open, ongoing forum to read the accumulating Q&A for that lecture and post my own questions or comments, then on to the problem sets with answers and discussion again on the forum, followed by quizzes and tests (multiple versions of each, so I could take them, repeatedly if necessary, for my own guidance, not grades)...and I could plow through it all in a week or chip away at it for a year, as suited my needs.
If they wanted to offer credentials, they could separate the teaching from the ultimate certification testing.
As it is, in most cases a good textbook still meets my needs so much better than all this advanced teaching technology.
However, OCW coupled with Youtube 1.5x playback is heaven.
To tell you the truth, I find it a great system because it gives me a sense of the time frame I should realistically be completed the course.
Although, at the same time I tend to do deep dives on a course and complete them as fast as possible blowing past the schedule anyways.
If you don't want to subscribe to a self-imposed schedule the audit option basically allows you to learn the material on your own time.
Something that annoys me is courses that are listed in the course list but were once and done and never coming back, or "maybe someday" classes.
I don't have data on completion data on timed vs untimed courses. The former's popularity is suggestive, but confounded by marketing, more people online, prestige, packaging of courses, lecturer/tutor availability, cohort forum, etc.
But I do have one anecdatum: I took Ullman's Automata, even though all the lectures were already on youtube, and slides, tests and solutions on his homepage. I found the schedule very tough towards the end... I meant to later review some parts I needed more time on, but over a year later, I still haven't...
I think that comes from imitating "physical" courses, which are designed to be completed in a predetermined amount of time. As the sibling comment alludes to, it also gives some motivation for actually finishing them.
Having predetermined time schedule might be reasonable for stuff like course credit and motivating the students to complete the course on time, but killing the forum community and even restricting access to materials (or making the access an unnecessary hassle) seems very unnecessary if the objective really is to foster learning in general.
Aren't these MOOCs just largely loss leaders for the schools?
For a narrow set of classes, programming autograders and other online aids are probably useful. But then, to the degree people have issues, they're really on their own (absent an explicit "TA" model that you pay for).
The stupidest, most counter-productive aspect of all these MOOC systems is the artificial schedule imposed on the course. While I've been able to take a couple to completion, I've had to let some by the wayside due to scheduling. Once that happens, you're disincentivized to catch up because of being behind and those that affect scoring. When I've gone back to finish courses that I had to leave by the wayside for the moment, sometimes I've lost access to the materials because the course has shifted to its next "semester". There's absolutely no reason for that. While there are a few courses like music or writing where you are collaborating or cross-reviewing other people's work, most of them are standalone lectures, homework, and tests.