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Admissions and Standards. The University Senate this week approved the policy of treating MOOCs in this way. Granting MOOC credit will not be automatic. The university statement said that students will have to work with "the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and academic departments to establish they have mastered the course material." 'MOOC2Degree' The Academic Partnerships program is called MOOC2Degree, and deals with the credit issue in another way. This program takes existing programs that are offered online (but not as MOOCs) and are fully accredited through their host institutions, and makes the first course into a MOOC -- open to all and free, but awarding credit to those who complete successfully. For example, the University of Cincinnati is offering its Innovation and Design Thinking course as a MOOC. Credit for that course could start a student on master's degree tracks in the university's business or engineering colleges. Randy Best, founder and chairman of Academic Partnerships, said in a statement: "The free start is just the encouragement many working adults need to enroll in a degree program that will have a big impact on their future success. For universities, MOOC2Degree will potentially attract larger numbers of qualified students into their degree programs." The Academic Partnerships announcement also quoted Belle Wheelan, president of the Southern Association of Colleges and Universities, as calling MOOC2Degree "a good idea" - a perhaps not so subtle reminder from Academic Partnerships that the MOOCs its universities will offer are covered by their institutions' accreditation. Other Paths to Credit The announcements from Georgia State and Academic Partnerships follow other institutions' moves toward creating paths to credit for MOOCs. In October, Coursera, a major MOOC provider, entered into a contract to license several of its courses to Antioch University, [3] which would offer versions of the MOOCs for credit as part of a bachelors degree program. And the American Council on Education has announced that it is evaluating whether courses from Coursera [4] and Udacity [5] (another MOOC provider) should be worth credit. A common theme in all of the announcements is the view that awarding MOOC credit can be a way to help non-traditional students earn degrees. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is supporting the ACE reviews, has stated that it hopes MOOCs expand access to college for those who need degrees. Best's statement referenced "working adults." Antioch has said that its program could be ideal for students who want to start bachelor's programs with credit earned at community colleges and then finish with MOOC and Antioch credit. And Georgia State's announcement said its approach to MOOC credit is part of a strategy to become "a national model for undergraduate education by demonstrating that students from all backgrounds can achieve academic and career success at high rates."
Source URL: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/01/23/public-universities-move-offer-moocs-credit Links: [1] http://www.gsu.edu/news/63587.html [2] http://www.mooc2degree.com/press.php#.UP-uV-i7AlI [3] http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/10/29/coursera-strikes-mooc-licensing-deal-antioch-university [4] http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/11/14/gates-foundation-and-ace-go-big-mooc-related-grants [5] http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/01/16/ace-assess-udacity-courses-credit [6] http://www.insidehighered.com/news/news-sections/online-learning