Two announcements this week suggest that MOOCs -- massive open online courses -- will increasingly include a route for students to receive academic credit.
Georgia State University announced Tuesday that it will start to review MOOCs for credit much like it reviews courses students have taken at other institutions, or exams they have taken to demonstrate competency in certain areas.
And Academic Partnerships, a company that works with public universities to put their degree programs online, announced an effort in which the first course of these programs can become a MOOC, with full credit awarded to those who successfully complete the course. The educational idea is that this offering will encourage more students to start degree programs. The financial idea is that the tuition revenue gained by participating institutions when students move from the MOOC to the rest of the program (which will continue to charge tuition) will offset the additional costs of offering the first course free.
Among the first universities planning to make the debut course in their online programs a MOOC are Cleveland State, Florida International, Lamar and Utah State Universities and the Universities of Arkansas, Cincinnati, Texas at Arlington and West Florida.
The announcements reflect increasing interest in turning MOOCs -- initially offered by elite institutions for educational gain but no credit -- into a tool that can be used by a range of students (including those who want credit) and into a strategy that can help a range of institutions without the endowments or prestige of MOOC pioneers such as Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/01/23/public-universities-move-offer-moocs-credit#ixzz2It8ljlie
Inside Higher Ed
'via Blog this' The Honourable Schoolboy
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