the role of these online MOOCs in credit accumulation, and a BS IT

[jsd]

Part 1
I've read a bit but am not quite sure what to make of study.com, saylor.com, straigerLine, etc... 
1. How do these sites help me fulfill my credit requirements? Or are they used for something else? 
2. and why aren't sites like coursera and edx included?

1. These programs are reviewed by ACE (American Council on Education) or NCCRS (National College Credit Recommendation Service) and they recommend to their partner schools that these courses are equivalent to a typical college course in the subject. Their partner colleges can decide to take these recommendations however they want (ie, accept them, reject them, take some of them and not others, take them but not as recommended). Some schools do, most don't. The Big 3 schools we talk about here accept them as recommended in MOST situations (Shmoop is an example of an exception).

2. Coursera/EdX have not been reviewed by ACE/NCCRS (at least not they don't have any non-expired reviews).



I won't address part 2 because i don't know much about excelsior and how they accept courses. I will say for IT degrees, the general advice given here is to go through WGU... certifications are included in your tuition and you can often finish faster/cheaper (if you are very disciplined AND have the background already) than you could with the Big 3. They're also generous with ACE credit (but not NCCRS).