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Even if the organizers of mass open distance courses do not intend to offer traditional higher education diplomas or their equivalents, it does not mean that this possibility with the support of non-formal sources Best math workbooks of education will not appear in the future.
Only after a year of its existence, the organizers of mass open distance courses (MOOC), such as Coursera, EdX and Udacity, are already beginning to offer certificates that may well be equivalent to university credits. But how realistic is the possibility of obtaining a full degree after the MOOC?
When Laura Pappano, a New York Times reporter specializing in education, asked Coursera co-founder Andrew Ng this question during the SXSWedu Education Technology Conference in Austin, he gave a diplomatic answer:
“Coursera is not a university. We do not award degrees or academic titles. We offer only a modest supplement to the general program.
To which Anant Agarwal, president of EdX, a nonprofit organization, remarked acrimoniously: “A very politically correct answer” (causing a lot of laughter in the audience).
This answer Ng is not surprising, given the dependence of Coursera on partner universities, including Princeton, Brown and 60 others, who fill the site with their free first grade sight words courses.
A startup cannot be a partner if it plans to enter a university environment with a possible degree. But just because Coursera representatives say they do not intend to issue diplomas or equivalents does not mean that others do not plan to do so in the end.
Based on the growth of non-accredited courses provided by companies such as the organizers of MOOC or iTunesU, Degreed suggests that since people use the services of non-formal sources of education, they also need alternative opportunities for obtaining a diploma. Despite the fact that they do not share the ambitions of the Degreed revolutionary change in higher education, the start-ups LearningJar and Smarterer similarly evaluate non-formal education.
After an official discussion on the sidelines, Agarwal shared that he is sure that MOOC will have the opportunity to issue diplomas on a common basis in the near future.
“Universities already issue diplomas after taking a course of online education, distance education, so what’s the difference then? The evening school program and online programs already provide diplomas. Why is it something special?”. – he said.
He also noted that EdX, like Coursera, does not want to become a university – “it is a platform, a portal and a community”. But in the years to come, schools will take a big step forward to accept the equivalent system of credits from MOOC organizers, and some of them may well want to issue a full diploma after passing credits on these sites. In addition, as the single value of traditional diplomas is receiving increasing attention, other companies, outside academia, may intervene in the assessment process and offer an equivalent replacement diploma.
But even if MOOC organizers such as Coursera and EdX make it possible to obtain alternative traditional higher education diplomas, the founders of both organizations say they do not support the opinion of Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen, an expert on revolutionary innovative solutions, that half of the universities could become bankrupt in the next fifteen years.
“I think it would be a tragedy,” Ng said. “I think there is something very important, almost sacred in the relationship between students and professors.
Instead of replacing existing education with online education in the real world, Ng believes the MOOC will have a significant impact on working adults who don’t have a bachelor’s degree and want to use Coursera (or Udacity or EdX) courses to earn credits that will help them achieve their traditional diploma.
