University of Wisconsin to Offer a Bachelor's to Students Who Take Online Competency

[IrishJohn]

Very interesting. With the University of Wisconsin starting this off, it's only a matter of time before other state schools start recognizing the changed climate for higher education and jump in as well.

College Degree, No Class Time Required - WSJ.com

[Yanji]

Intriguing... although I'm not sure if the degrees are granted by UW-Madison or one of the lesser regional schools. Because if it is UW-Madison, I'd do this "just for fun", regardless of cost and get a degree from a highly respectable university to boot. If it's another UW campus... it's still an interesting development but I don't need another "for fun" degree from an anonymous state school; I already plunked down $6000 for that privilege at TESC.

[sanantone]

LOL. At least having Wisconsin in the school name makes it somewhat recognizable. I always have to tell people where TESC is located.

[Jonathan Whatley]

The "first group of Flexible Option programs planned for Fall 2013" is as follows:

UW-Milwaukee
• BS in Information Science & Technology
• Certificate in Professional and Technical Communication
• Health professional upgrade programs: RN to BSN, RN to MN, and a bachelor's completion program for certified diagnostic imaging professionals

UW Colleges (Community colleges)
• Courses
• There's a very hedged statement that there might be AA and AS degrees on the way: They "will work to provide" them

UW-Superior and UW Independent Learning
• Courses

[sanantone]

Awesome! I might hold off on completing another degree at TESC. I hope these assessments aren't writing-based like the performance assessments at WGU. Writing is very important, but I'm not in the mood to write a bunch of papers after my graduate program.

[ryoder]

I think this is a great progressive move by the state of Wisconsin. Students first.

[rebel100]

Cool, be interesting to see how this is ultimately received.

[cookderosa]

Very interesting. With the University of Wisconsin starting this off, it's only a matter of time before other state schools start recognizing the changed climate for higher education and jump in as well.

College Degree, No Class Time Required - WSJ.com

Did you see some of the comments? Ouch. I think a few alumni need some peanut butter to go with all that jelly.

[sanantone]

People don't seem to understand the concept of earning credit for prior knowledge or knowledge gained outside of traditional means. What's the big issue with a business professional earning college credit for knowledge they already have past the college-level? What's wrong with people learning from the country's top professors through MOOC's instead of paying thousands of dollars to sit in a classroom at a mediocre school?

[LaterBloomer]

Folks with that piece of parchment want it because it acts as a gatekeeper to keep the rest of the great unwashed out. It's just a piece of paper, but to many, it matters. One of the reasons that I'm working on my degree is that I had to explain to someone with a MASTER's degree the difference between coarse and course. I figured if you could be that ignorant, and have a degree, then I was smart enough for college, too. I think that MOOCs, and UW's proposal are great. I think that it will help employers in the future assess the person, and not the paper. Initially, it will be harder for the person hiring, but, ultimately, I think that it will benefit the employer.