So how does that "accountability" feature look to you. Is that like a community that's completing the course at the same time? Or maybe a simulated coach that shoots encouragement at you?
someone that nags me every so often. It might be a small group completing the course at the same time. You could join a group and it keeps track of individual progress. The group should have a leader with superior skills that mentors the group and nags everybody to do the homework on time, reply to questions, etc. The group could have an IRC channel or a Campfire open all the time and schedule official meeting times.
Get a weekly notification of my current progress and everybody's progress so I can help somebody else if they are behind.
The class should be based on mentoring, team work and deadlines.
I'm not sure a guilt-based approach is going to work best for the majority. I'm no psych major, but I'm certain positive reinforcement has better influence overall then otherwise.
The other thing you point out which seems unrelated to the motivation end of things seems to be communication with fixed times to meet. While I think the encouragement of other people going through the same steps you have to perform builds motivation to continue, are there other reasons why this is important to you?
Being nagged by a peer or even a 'leader' you don't meet may never be as effective as being nagged by an actual classroom teacher, whose authority most students recognize.
