Interesting Article on LinkedIn about the Online Course Revolution

[FuschiaFleur]

I came across this article today and thought it would be interesting to share with you all. No groundbreaking information here, but it's becoming clear that the notion of "traditional education" is shifting. But all of you "Big 3'ers" already knew that.

Five Ways Free Online Classes Will Change College, or Not | LinkedIn

This part stood out to me...

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Rather than enroll in that pricey professional certificate program at the college down the street, you’ll take a few MOOCs and pay for a verified certificate at the end of each course for a few hundred bucks. Eventually, MOOCs will put bundle together a few courses into a curriculum that will lead to a certificate equal to what colleges are now charging thousands of dolars for.

What MOOCs won’t do: Replace the bachelor’s degree. A degree is more than simply a collection of 120 credits. A structured undergraduate curriculum from an institution still matters, at least until someone else figures out how to copy that for a much lower price.

There are already websites that allow you to take online courses for free and earn a certificate (alison.com), but they usually aren't recognized/viewed as legitimate. It would be nice to have more "respected" options for free learning. Maybe Saylor will move in this direction?

I disagree with the second paragraph. While I value education and enjoy learning, I have learned much more from real-life experience than I ever did in a classroom (to me a bachelor's degree is just 120 credits for many industries nowadays and just a milestone that shows you completed a difficult, complex task) Even as a college freshman, I quickly found out that attending lecture (at least for me) was a waste of time. I followed the syllabus, studied my notes/textbook, quizzed myself, returned to class for tests and exams, and aced the course. Most of the members here will/have test out of 90%+ of our coursework in order to earn degrees, yet we still require a tremendous amount of structure. I even find that because I set the parameters for learning and studying, I retain much more information. Actually much of what I am studying is more meaningful because I have the professional experience that puts everything into perspective.

Thank goodness for the Big 3 (and other similar institutions) that recognize that the old, one size fits all model of higher education isn't applicable for everyone. I believe that if one successfully demonstrates through exam or written essay that he or she has mastered the concepts/requirements for a course, then it's wholly unnecessary to spend 8-16 weeks inside of a classroom.

[Daithi]

That was a pretty good article. I really wish ACE would recognize the MOOCS from Coursera, edX, and Udacity for credit. There are some really interesting courses available by top tier universities, but I only have so much time. Because of time restraints, I'll have to complete my bachelors before I'm able to take some of those really interesting looking courses.

[FuschiaFleur]

That was a pretty good article. I really wish ACE would recognize the MOOCS from Coursera, edX, and Udacity for credit. There are some really interesting courses available by top tier universities, but I only have so much time. Because of time restraints, I'll have to complete my bachelors before I'm able to take some of those really interesting looking courses.

It's interesting that you mentioned ACE because I found this press release on their website. ACE to Assess Potential of MOOCs, Evaluate Courses for Credit-Worthiness

Also ACE has recently approved 5 Coursera courses from top-tier universities.

Pre-Calculus from the University of California, Irvine
Introduction to Genetics and Evolution from Duke University
Bioelectricity: A Quantitative Approach from Duke University
Calculus: Single Variable from the University of Pennsylvania

And one course approved for developmental math vocational credit recommendation:

Algebra from the University of California, Irvine

I believe that we are slowly but surely getting "there." Saylor's partnership with Excelsior is a great example. You can potentially earn 9 credits for free!

I'm in the same boat as you though because time is not on my side. I'm planning on pursuing an IT degree, and while there are TONS of MOOCs out there for the course content, I have yet to come across any free or cheap ways of earning credit.

[sanantone]

Yes, some of the coursera courses were ACE-approved a month ago. Three of the Saylor courses are NCCRS-approved, so they should be accepted by the Big 3. TESC is partnering with Saylor and making TECEPs to go along with their courses. Straighterline also offers microbiology through Saylor. There are free ways of earning credit: FEMA and TEEX.

[rebel100]

In order to be ACE or National CCRS accredited the organization has to apply and pay fro an evaluation. ACE and NCCRS don't just go around accrediting MOOCS or any other education organizations. Saylor paid for that, Straighterline paid for that.

[FuschiaFleur]

Yes, some of the coursera courses were ACE-approved a month ago. Three of the Saylor courses are NCCRS-approved, so they should be accepted by the Big 3. TESC is partnering with Saylor and making TECEPs to go along with their courses. Straighterline also offers microbiology through Saylor. There are free ways of earning credit: FEMA and TEEX.

Not too familiar with TEEX (it's just cybersecurity, right?). I was thinking more along the lines of programming, database systems, software analysis, project management, etc: IT core classes.

[sanantone]

In order to be ACE or National CCRS accredited the organization has to apply and pay fro an evaluation. ACE and NCCRS don't just go around accrediting MOOCS or any other education organizations. Saylor paid for that, Straighterline paid for that.

True and it's probably expensive for non-profits and struggling for-profits like Coursera.

Not too familiar with TEEX (it's just cybersecurity, right?). I was thinking more along the lines of programming, database systems, software analysis, project management, etc: IT core classes.

I missed the IT part of your post; but, yeah, it's just cybersecurity.

[Daithi]

Coursera is affiliated with top-tier universities that have the resources to get courses approved. Whether they will spend the money to do it is another question, but at least they did it for 5 courses and have announced they are planning to do more. Unfortunately, their first batch of approved courses weren't up my ally, represents a very small subset of the courses they offer. I'd like to see some of the artificial intelligence and other computer related courses get approval.

I also remember reading at the end of last year about Bill & Melinda Gates awarding ACE nearly a million dollars to look into approving MOOCs for credit. ACE formed a committee with the Presidents of various colleges that are members of ACE to start examining the issue. I remember thinking at the time that it wouldn't go anywhere, but then Coursera got their 5 courses approved, so who knows.

One sour note, the President of Excelsior College, John Ebersole, announced they would not be following the ACE recommendation to grant credit for the Coursera courses. I'm not sure why, after all I believe they accept Straighterline. Maybe Bioelectricity at Duke and Calculus at Penn don't meet the level of rigor demanded by Excelsior.