{"id":4335,"date":"2013-07-16T16:03:02","date_gmt":"2013-07-16T21:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/?p=4335"},"modified":"2016-06-09T06:52:10","modified_gmt":"2016-06-09T11:52:10","slug":"so-youve-finished-your-mooc-now-what","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/2013\/07\/16\/so-youve-finished-your-mooc-now-what\/","title":{"rendered":"MOOCs: To Credit or Not to Credit?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In recent media, that has been the question. \u00a0Although the average completion rate of a MOOC is around 10% (which, for a class of 160,000 students<\/a>, is pretty good), many in higher education have pointed out there is more to mastering a subject than just simply completing a course. \u00a0How comfortable are universities with accepting MOOC credits on a transcript? \u00a0And, perhaps more importantly, how comfortable are employers with hiring applicants who received their experience online?<\/p>\n

MOOCs gaining ground for college credit<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the first half of this year alone, it already seems like MOOCs are well on their way to being accepted for college credit. \u00a0The American Council for Education has at the start of this year recommended five Coursera courses as credit-worthy<\/a>, and the state of California just approved legislation<\/a> requiring high school and undergraduate institutions to accept transfer credit from certain MOOCs to alleviate overfull classrooms and continue students in their degree progression. \u00a0 Georgia Tech has recently announced its plan to launch a completely online master’s degree<\/a> in computer science. \u00a0Although the program requires tuition, it’s much less expensive than enrolling in traditional courses. \u00a0AT&T has pledged<\/a>\u00a0 $2 million dollars to support the program, hoping to prepare more students with skills they’re looking for in future employees.<\/p>\n

Is accreditation contrary to the spirit of the MOOC?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course there has been backlash to this news. \u00a0Professor Joshua Gans at University of Toronto holds<\/a> that accrediting MOOCs will tailor their content towards testing. \u00a0Instead of allowing room for teacher creativity and class curiosity, both professors and students will be worried about what’s on the final. \u00a0He claims that this is in opposition to the spirit of the MOOC, which, when they were free and credit-less, students took because of curiosity and the desire to learn. \u00a0While it can be said that intellectual curiosity is a driving factor for some, aren’t most MOOC-takers looking to improve their skill sets in ways that are demonstrable to current or future employers? \u00a0In these instances, some form of assessment is\u00a0<\/em>necessary. \u00a0Are there ways to freshen up the online classroom experience while still teaching to the exam?<\/p>\n

Alternatives to accreditation<\/strong><\/p>\n

In lieu of credit, some people are now suggesting that online students be awarded\u00a0“badges” for certain skill sets<\/a>\u00a0they’ve learned online. \u00a0Employers can look at these badges and determine if an applicant has the necessary skills they’re looking for\u2014despite not having attended “real” college. \u00a0In the same spirit,\u00a0MOOCs are now showing up on resumes. \u00a0This article<\/a>\u00a0advises students on when and how to incorporate MOOCs into their resumes and LinkedIn, and\u00a0this article<\/a>\u00a0advises employers on how to assess MOOCs on applicants’ resumes.<\/p>\n

Accredited or unaccredited, it is becoming increasingly evident that \u00a0employers are becoming more willing to consider MOOC education as a valid form of job training.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This post is part of a series on\u00a0\u201cMaking History Online\u201d<\/a>\u00a0that involves an examination of open online learning.\u00a0 Students and faculty at the House Divided Project at Dickinson College are collaborating this summer on a new open, online course called, \u201cUnderstanding Lincoln,\u201d taught by Prof. Matthew Pinsker and covering ways to teach Abraham Lincoln\u2019s legacy using close readings of his most important writings. This new type of online course represents a unique partnership between Dickinson College and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. The course is available for both graduate credit and free participation. Registration for the course closes on Friday, July 19, 2013. For more information, go to\u00a0https:\/\/www.gilderlehrman.org\/programs-exhibitions\/understanding-lincoln-graduate-course<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In recent media, that has been the question. \u00a0Although the average completion rate of a MOOC is around 10% (which, for a class of 160,000 students, is pretty good), many in higher education have pointed out there is more to mastering a subject than just simply completing a course. \u00a0How comfortable are universities with accepting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4760],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history-online"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4335"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4734,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4335\/revisions\/4734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}