High quality Massively Open Online Courses (MOOC’s) may become students’preferred choice for completing introductory coursework and will be accepted by most institutions as transfer credit.
One aspect of this assertion is the “type” of students who might prefer MOOCs: If students have the choice between a MOOC and a traditional lecture-style course, then the question becomes “which students may end up opting for MOOCs”? My guess is that on-line classes will end up being “differentiators”: those who take them and score well in exams will be valued more (e.g., by employers) than those who take the traditional version and score the same. Said differently, middle-of-the-road universities that allow their students to get credit for on-line courses are effectively tapping into a better population of students. This is may not be too different from AP credits.
October 30, 2012
One aspect of this assertion is the “type” of students who might prefer MOOCs: If students have the choice between a MOOC and a traditional lecture-style course, then the question becomes “which students may end up opting for MOOCs”? My guess is that on-line classes will end up being “differentiators”: those who take them and score well in exams will be valued more (e.g., by employers) than those who take the traditional version and score the same. Said differently, middle-of-the-road universities that allow their students to get credit for on-line courses are effectively tapping into a better population of students. This is may not be too different from AP credits.