There is a MOOC meme that needs to be squashed. Why are we evaluating any MOOC based on the number of people who FAILED to complete a course. One person makes 5 attempts at a course and finally passes. 4 FAILURES and one pass. To my mind this is a fantastic success. Nobody would ever have the opportunity to plug away 5 times at a course in university.

We should be celebrating the number of people who pass these courses and always remember that the people who choose MOOCs are likely to be adults with commitments and busy unpredictable lives. Sometimes circumstances overwhelm them and they cannot complete a course. But with a MOOC, if at first you don't succeed you can try, try again until you manage to get through.

I can see all kinds of reasons for Udacity to pivot. First, they have to earn money somehow at some point, and that will require some pivoting; Second, their current offering seemed a bit sub-par (IMHO - style over substance, fun videos but in the end skirting the hard/important things I wanted from the course) when compared to, say, Coursera. And changing that doesn't need 'more quality', they already can do quality stuff, but it needs a clearer direction on who and why the course is intended serve - ergo, the pivot.