Netflix recommends movies based on how much previous similar renters liked them. It’s a simple concept in theory. And one that university’s across the country are looking to implement to help students pick their courses.
These course recommendation systems consider major, remaining requirements, past academic performance and how similar students fared in that class. The idea is that this recommendation system will help students pick courses they will be able to fare more successfully in.
Although, these systems don’t currently incorporate student’s subjective feedback regarding how they “liked” the course. And that’s the real Netflix. Because otherwise, faculty will be incentivized to grade easier so their courses get recommended more frequently. What this does is help students from taking advanced courses that look interesting before they’re academically ready for them. This is extremely useful. But, it’s not Netflix.