MOOC for Freshman Year Credit via ASU

[chorizo]

An intresting concept and finally using MOOCs for credt.
A bit expensive at $200/ credit though.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015...ough-moocs

[KittenMittens]

An intresting concept and finally using MOOCs for credt.
A bit expensive at $200/ credit though.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015...ough-moocs

I saw this as well and was going to post it until I saw the price per credit... I love the entire concept of MOOCS, they teach things in a way that are efficient, to the point, and from some of the best institutions in the world from the convenience and comfort from home. You get to figure out what courses are good based off of reviews, but it's a complete ripoff how the "EdX" certificate doesn't get you credit, but ASU, will give you the "privilege" of getting 3 credits for $600 (and whatever fees that may be tacked on). So far the offerings are not that great, and are better served through CLEPS, DSSTs, etc. Hopefully they realize they can make more money if they go down quite a bit in cost, or some other colleges begin to offer it as well, though it's clear they are trying to artificially preserve the cost of college and preventing students from spending less. Higher education in the U.S. is such a racket... but hopefully not for long over the next decade! But the time will come (and already has) where you can get credit through MOOCs. My younger son for instance, has been looking into the Georgia Tech online Master's in Computer Science program. Only $7,000 and it's a top 10 CS program. It doesn't get better than that!

[Leherself]

It's less expensive than ASU's regular online tuition (about $500 a credit, depending on the program), but yeah I don't see this being very popular. I think the primary market would actually be people who are already attending ASU and just want some discount resident credit.

[cookderosa]

I've got a thread going on this over on my FB page- it's pretty much freaking out the "higher ed community" but I like what it represents. The difference, I think, between an option like this and an option like SL is that these are RA credits- currently SL, ALEKS, Sophia, TEEX, etc. are only ACE credits, which are limiting in their utility. I think one of the aspects that is appealing, is that you don't pay until after you pass (besides the $45 registration) so if you decide not to finish, you're only out $45.

One of the big criticisms is HOW this gets RA without being evaluated, and I have no thoughts on that complex issue, but it will be interesting to see if this model sparks other schools to follow in line or if this fizzles out.

[Leherself]

I've got a thread going on this over on my FB page- it's pretty much freaking out the "higher ed community" but I like what it represents. The difference, I think, between an option like this and an option like SL is that these are RA credits- currently SL, ALEKS, Sophia, TEEX, etc. are only ACE credits, which are limiting in their utility. I think one of the aspects that is appealing, is that you don't pay until after you pass (besides the $45 registration) so if you decide not to finish, you're only out $45.

One of the big criticisms is HOW this gets RA without being evaluated, and I have no thoughts on that complex issue, but it will be interesting to see if this model sparks other schools to follow in line or if this fizzles out.

And according to the article, there's not going to be any way to tell on the transcript that these courses were delivered by MOOC. So that implies that these will be graded credits also. So grades for classes that you only submit if you know you've passed?

Sure, you could take classes from a community college for less money. You could do CLEP/Straighterline/etc. for less money. But being able to get RA credit from a full-on university, without any risk of wrecking your GPA, and only paying if you passed? That's a completely unique offering in the land of higher ed as far as I know.

One crowd that I could really see taking advantage of it is highschool kids - especially the homeschooling crowd. They can try college level work, and get credit if they do well... but with no negative consequences if they don't do well. For parents & kids that are worried about competitive admissions and GPAs, that might be a more attractive prospect than dual enrollment at a local school.

Not as interesting for a lot of people here, though. For one, these are full courses - likely with a comparable workload to ASU online's traditional online classes. I know that for me, part of the appeal of testing out is *not* having to do all that work! Lol. Not to mention that almost all the classes they're going to offer would duplicate classes already available by CBE - though not all. Their 200-level "Human Origins" anthropology class looks interesting.

Ultimately I think these are more for the larger crowd that takes advantage of things like testing - the people who use a few tests to get ahead, or save a little bit of money, but are for the most part looking for a conventional college experience - not the people who are trying to test out of everything (we're a pretty fringe minority ). The same students who are using AP tests will probably also be interested in this. Interestingly, ASU also accepts up to 60 credits of CBE. So between the freshman course offerings, and CBE, you could probably finish almost everything but your actual major requirements before you ever took a traditional ASU class.

[KittenMittens]

Sure, you could take classes from a community college for less money. You could do CLEP/Straighterline/etc. for less money. But being able to get RA credit from a full-on university, without any risk of wrecking your GPA, and only paying if you passed? That's a completely unique offering in the land of higher ed as far as I know.

One crowd that I could really see taking advantage of it is highschool kids - especially the homeschooling crowd. They can try college level work, and get credit if they do well... but with no negative consequences if they don't do well. For parents & kids that are worried about competitive admissions and GPAs, that might be a more attractive prospect than dual enrollment at a local school.

Not as interesting for a lot of people here, though. For one, these are full courses - likely with a comparable workload to ASU online's traditional online classes. I know that for me, part of the appeal of testing out is *not* having to do all that work! Lol. Not to mention that almost all the classes they're going to offer would duplicate classes already available by CBE - though not all. Their 200-level "Human Origins" anthropology class looks interesting.

Ultimately I think these are more for the larger crowd that takes advantage of things like testing - the people who use a few tests to get ahead, or save a little bit of money, but are for the most part looking for a conventional college experience - not the people who are trying to test out of everything (we're a pretty fringe minority ). The same students who are using AP tests will probably also be interested in this. Interestingly, ASU also accepts up to 60 credits of CBE. So between the freshman course offerings, and CBE, you could probably finish almost everything but your actual major requirements before you ever took a traditional ASU class.

$600 is just too much for LL credit especially if it's just for a pass - we'll have to see if it can be done with UL courses. I mean Georgia Tech's online master's in computer science program is $7,000 for 30 credits and it's a top 10 school, and that's $233/credit for a graduate level program.

The only reason why we're a minority is because higher ed never tell students to look into these options - they have no financial incentive to do so. It hasn't really gained much traction until a few years ago with guys like bain4weeks.com and 123collegedegree.com, MOOCs will only make it a more popular option.

I can't wait until the higher ed bubble pops, almost no where else in the world do students go through 4 years of random coursework after high school. British, French, Indian, Chinese, etc. are all typically done for 2 years, and then you end up specializing in something practical.

But there's a pervasive culture here in the US that no college = no success and that success = living in overpriced crappy dorm rooms (not for studying but for partying more than anything else) and becoming "well rounded" (literally) to end up 4 years older, and poorer, and typically not having learned anything of real tangible value. You don't even get taught by a professor in a lot of courses and you are on your own if you want to succeed. Yes, college is about being independent and self-actualizing, but most professors couldn't care any less on how you do; though I guess it depends on where you go too of course.

[sanantone]

MOOCs might be a little more flexible when it comes to payment, but there are way too many community colleges with online courses that charge well under $200 per credit instate. Unless it is one of their 39 self-paced courses (hardly any of these are LL gen ed), you have to wait for edX courses to open up. I haven't really paid attention to how often most edX courses are offered, but I know many Coursera courses are only offered once per year. At least community colleges offer your typical gen ed courses every semester.

[cookderosa]

MOOCs might be a little more flexible when it comes to payment, but there are way too many community colleges with online courses that charge well under $200 per credit instate. Unless it is one of their 39 self-paced courses (hardly any of these are LL gen ed), you have to wait for edX courses to open up. I haven't really paid attention to how often most edX courses are offered, but I know many Coursera courses are only offered once per year. At least community colleges offer your typical gen ed courses every semester.

I use edx pretty heavily in our homeschool. I have 2 kids enrolled in 3 courses right now. In our case, these courses are archived, so you simply sign up and start. There are real time courses, but I've avoided these because our academic schedule is on 8 week units, and nothing in real time ever works for us. In most of the courses we've done, there is a "verification" option where you can pay a fee to receive verification that you've completed the course. I've not done this because the utility for a middle and high school student is zero (more applicable for a working professional maybe?) but the classes we've used are never typical gen eds. What would be the most interest to me, is if any of these end up as upper level at some point. All of us know that finding UL as a non-degree seeking student can be challenging, so since this process kinda goes around admissions, that aspect is appealing. For the 100/200 I can't imagine it taking off, but then again, I didn't think SL would take off lol.

[sanantone]

I use edx pretty heavily in our homeschool. I have 2 kids enrolled in 3 courses right now. In our case, these courses are archived, so you simply sign up and start. There are real time courses, but I've avoided these because our academic schedule is on 8 week units, and nothing in real time ever works for us. In most of the courses we've done, there is a "verification" option where you can pay a fee to receive verification that you've completed the course. I've not done this because the utility for a middle and high school student is zero (more applicable for a working professional maybe?) but the classes we've used are never typical gen eds. What would be the most interest to me, is if any of these end up as upper level at some point. All of us know that finding UL as a non-degree seeking student can be challenging, so since this process kinda goes around admissions, that aspect is appealing. For the 100/200 I can't imagine it taking off, but then again, I didn't think SL would take off lol.

So far, these are only freshman year courses. My bet is that most of these courses will have start dates because I don't see many self-paced courses that would be taken for freshman year. I've never attempted an edX course, but even though materials for a lot of Coursera courses are available year-round, you have to take them when the courses are "open" in order to earn a verified certificate. I really don't think ASU wants to lose all of that money by accepting upper division courses for juniors and seniors. This is a marketing ploy for them to get the students who would have skipped them.

Edit: I see that ASU is developing their own courses. Except for the introductory course, the other courses they have up so far have start dates.