edX Global Freshman Academy

[Jim Tittsler]

Arizona State University and edX are now offering freshman level
courses for credit.
https://www.edx.org/gfa
ASU has complete online degree programs, but I suspect this will
significantly widen their reach, especially with their "Pay When You
Pass" (US$200/credit hour) marketing.

[Wayne Mackintosh]

Hi Jim,

Thanks for sharing. This is a significant development in the space - MOOCs for credit (but you only pay once you pass.) 

OERu could be competing in this space if only we could speed up our product development :-(.  We really need to get our 1st year for general education studies initiative moving. With +30 partners, is it possible for the OERu to complete 10 - 15 first year courses based on open textbooks by the end of 2015?

Wayne

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Wayne Mackintosh
Director OER Foundation
UNESCO/COL/ICDE Chair in OER

Skype: WGMNZ1
Twitter: Mackiwg

[Mika Hoffman]

Note that two OERu members, Thomas Edison State College and Excelsior College, have been granting exam-based credentials for years, and for far less than $200/credit hour--the development at ASU is that a well-marketed learning opportunity (the MOOC) has been attached to a secure exam (but the exams built for the MOOCs are not generally as rigorously developed as Thomas Edison's or Excelsior's).  A major aspect of the expense of the credential is the assessment of learning and the security of that assessment--since we already have that piece in place for many subjects through exams for credit (over 60 for Excelsior, probably comparable for Thomas Edison), surely it would make sense to build courses starting from what we already have?

Mika

[Steve Foerster]

I agree, Mika.  So does OERu partner Athabasca University, through their BGS programme, and a number of non-OERu institutions as well.

ASU is big enough to generate a lot of hype.  Just as Stanford didn't originate MOOCs but had the star power to "discover" them in the eyes of the education media, so too are they reporting this development as revolutionary even though it isn't a game changer at all either in terms of novelty or price.

-=Steve=-