What MOOCs Don t Want You to Know: The StraighterLine Guide to MOOCs By Barry Lenson, Beth Dumbauld and Jeffrey Simons 2013 StraighterLine. All Rights Reserved.
Table of Contents Introduction: What s a MOOC?...3-4 Part One: Four Questions to Ask a MOOC... 5-6 Part Two: MOOCs Greatest Online Distractions, Ever?... 7-8 Part Three: Help, I Took a MOOC Now What? Or, How to get credit for what you learned in a non-credit-bearing course... 9-11 Part Four: Taking Online College Courses for Credit Instead of MOOCs... 12-13 About StraighterLine... 14-18 Notes... 19
Introduction What s a MOOC? What is a MOOC? (Hint: It s not a large animal with antlers that ambles across highways in Maine.) A MOOC is a Massive Online Open Course. In other words, a course that anyone can sign up for any time. MOOCs are usually free college courses that are distributed without limit online and are available to any person, anywhere in the world. Today, MOOCs are being offered by many universities, including Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Vanderbilt, Wesleyan, and more. They are being offered directly from colleges and universities, or by schools on platforms like Coursera or edx, or by MOOC providers like Udacity. Here are just a few of the more than 100 MOOCs listed on OpenCulture.com. 1 Introduction to Sociology (NC) Princeton on Coursera First Year University Spanish (NC) SpanishMooc.com Songwriting (NI) Berklee College of Music on Coursera Cryptography II (SA) Stanford on Coursera General Game Playing (NI) Stanford on Coursera Gender Through Comic Books (NI) Ball State on Canvas The Ancient Greek Hero (CC) Harvard on edx Intro to Parallel Programming (C-VA) - Udacity Circuits and Electronics (CM) MIT on edx When you read that list, you will find some interesting notations in the parentheses. You ll discover that some of the MOOCs listed will give you a Certificate of Completion after you have finished your course. Others will give you a Certificate of Mastery. Others will give you nothing. CC = Certificate of Completion SA = Statement of Accomplishment CM = Certificate of Mastery C-VA = Certificate, with Varied Levels of Accomplishment NI No Information About Certificate Available NC = No Certificate 3
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS) have been making the news a lot lately. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are funding research that will explore the role that MOOCs can plan in American higher education. For the first time ever, ACE has reviewed a small number of MOOCs and is recommending that they be accepted for credit by participating colleges and universities. But MOOCs have problems. They have a very high drop-out rate: on average, 90% of students who start a MOOC drop it. 2 And as we mentioned above, in most cases, even if you end up with a certificate, you may not be able to turn that into college credit. This guide will help you decide if a MOOC is a good choice for you. It will help you decide which is your best educational option and value - free online college course MOOCs, StraighterLine, or something else entirely. 4
Part One Four Questions to Ask a MOOC MOOCs are great. Who could possibly argue with a chance to take a course like Ancient Israel, taught by Prof. Daniel Fleming of NYU, or The Thriving Green Economy, taught by a group of Stanford Professors? And those courses are free. Why not sign up and learn all you can? But before you sign up, log on, and spend a lot of time studying, you should ask yourself the following questions: Question 1 Can I earn any college credits from taking this course? If not, will you earn a certificate or some other kind of document that shows that you completed the course? Question 2 Can I get any credit at my regular college for taking my course? Can you transfer credit hours, for example, place out of a course at your college, or enjoy some other benefit? Question 3 What is the course format? Are there lessons, units, and assignments? Or does the MOOC consist of nothing more than videos of lectures given by a professor? The content of MOOCs varies widely. There s nothing wrong with watching interesting lectures, of course, but there is more to a good college course than that. Question 4 Is there a way I can contact the college or the instructors if I have questions? In most cases, MOOCs are off-the-shelf products that deliver their content in one direction online: from the course provider to the student. There is usually no opportunity for the student to contact the school with questions. 5
Now we ve got another question for you: Which is better for me, StraighterLine or a MOOC? In a sense, StraighterLine is a MOOC provider. (In fact, StraighterLine might have been the first MOOC.) However, StraighterLine is able to provide the right answers to the questions above. After taking a course at StraighterLine, you can transfer the credits you earn to your regular college, for example. Courses are structured like regular college classes, with units, lessons, and assignments. And if you have questions, it is easy to get them answered. But can a MOOC meet your educational needs? In some cases, yes. In other cases, no. The important thing is to ask the right questions before enrolling and investing a lot of time in the virtual classroom. 6
Part Two MOOCs Greatest Online Distractions, Ever? MOOCs are free and we all know that free is a good thing, right? Well let s think this concept through. Free educational access is certainly a noble thing; we all deserve access to a college education no matter where we live or our economic circumstance. Yet, free access to online classes doesn t necessarily translate into the achievement of academic goals, particularly if your goal is earning your college degree. For many, the availability and ubiquity of MOOCs may act as noble distractions. After all, it can be far more tempting to sign-up for a robotics course taught by a professor at Stanford or MIT than taking a prerequisite physics course required for your engineering degree. But guess what? Completing that physics course for credit will take you one step closer to your engineering degree and put your dream career of building robots of your own into reach. If you are a degree seeker or employee looking to advance your career, enrolling in MOOCs can provide you with free access to college-level academics, but it can t provide you with a clear path to earning your college degree. In other words, MOOCs are all yin, but no yang. By definition, MOOCs are designed to bring educational material to the masses (emphasis on Massive Open Online Courses), a philosophical principle embraced by the consortium of colleges and universities who participate in distributing MOOCs online. When it comes to the practical, to the now, of earning a college degree and entering a professional career it can be far more helpful to have a clearly defined path than a philosophy to follow. StraighterLine provides that clearly defined path. MOOCs are for Students with Good Intentions; Taking Online College Courses for Credit is for Students with Goals What are your professional goals? What are your educational goals? Are your educational goals in alignment with your professional goals? Do you even know what academic route you need to take in order to achieve your professional goals? 7
The appeal of signing up for MOOCs is that they are a way to access education materials without incurring any risks. MOOCs don t hold you accountable. In fact, you don t have to hold yourself accountable when participating in a MOOC. If you finish a MOOC -- hurrah for you! You might get a badge of completion. If you don t finish, at least you can comfort yourself with your good intentions but have you ever tried to frame a good intention? Have you ever passed off a chronological list of good intentions on your resume as reason to hire you? Probably not. The real world just doesn t work that way. In the real world, you are most likely taking college courses online for a specific set of reasons and tangible set of outcomes. For example, your employer might require that you take college courses for credit in subject areas as varied as business and accounting or physiology and chemistry in order to be eligible for a promotion. Or you might be looking to earn a college degree in order to enter a professional field. Smart move. Most professional careers these days require a college degree in order to be even considered for a position. In this case, taking a free college course with no predictable career or degree path in mind won t do you, or your goals, very much good. In the real world, when time is money, taking free online colleges classes, including reputable MOOCS, might possibly end up being a colossal waste of time and therefore a colossal waste of your money. Adult learners with competing sets of responsibilities need a clear path towards earning their degree. Distractions, no matter how well presented or thought-through, are not helpful during a time of academic or career recalibration. Spending massive amounts of time in colleges courses that can t earn college credit will only slow you down and distract you from your academic and career goals. After all, there s a real cost to opportunity costs. 8
Part Three Help, I Took a MOOC Now What? Or, How to get credit for what you learned in a non-credit-bearing course Taking a MOOC sounded like a great idea. Who wouldn t want to take a free online course from top professors at the best universities in the world, like Harvard and Stanford and MIT? That s probably why hundreds of thousands of students signed up for them. Some of them even finished the courses, although sadly, fewer than you d think. Many MOOCS have dropout rates of 90% or so, according to articles like this one in The Chronicle of Higher Education. 3 But let s assume you re one of the students who stuck with your MOOC to the end. Now what? What do you do with what you learned? Because you see, with MOOCS, to some extent, you get what you pay for. MOOCs don t give you college credit. Knowledge, yes. Credit, no. Not at Coursera. Not at EdX. Not at Udacity. What if we told you that there was in fact a fast and easy way for you to get the credit you deserve for the knowledge you gained in your MOOC? There is. Credit-by-Exam: Earn College Credit for Your MOOC It s called a credit-by-exam (CBE), and it s the perfect option for students who took a MOOC. In fact, StraighterLine offers over 30 different tests-for-credit in subjects like: Abnormal Psychology Anatomy & Physiology Basic Genetics Macroeconomics Microeconomics Business Law Accounting English Composition I Philosophy Psychology Gerontology Workplace Communication with Computers And many more. You can find the full list of credit-by-exams here. 9
Accepted at 2,500 Colleges and Universities Our CBEs aren t just any old test-for-credit. They re Excelsior College Exams (ECE), and they ve actually been around for more than 40 years. They re produced by one of our accredited partner schools, Excelsior College, and they re accepted for credit by more than 2,500 colleges and universities. They re also an excellent way to convert your MOOC-knowledge into college credit. That s because when you buy an ECE, you don t just buy a test. You get an entire study program, complete with a content guide, course guide, open courseware, open resources guide and a practice test. So you can use the course materials that come with your ECE to fill in any holes you may have in your mastery of the subject while you study for the test. It s the ultimate study guide. Earn 3 College Credits for $95 And do you know one of the best things of all about a credit-by-exam? It s affordable. In fact, many of our CBEs cost as little as $95 each. Some of them cost more, of course, but some of those also give you even more college credits. For instance, Anatomy & Physiology costs $415 and gives you 6 credits. In addition to being affordable, taking an Excelsior College Exam is convenient. You ll take your ECE at the nearest Pearson VUE Test Center, the world s largest network of test centers with locations in 175 countries around the world. The tests take between 2 and 3 hours, on average. Registration is easy and online, and scheduling is flexible. In other words, you can convert your MOOC into credit as quickly as you need to. Another Option to Earn College Credit for Your MOOC If you don t find a subject that corresponds with your MOOC, never fear: you can also take a PLA, or Prior Learning Assessment. A PLA lets you translate the knowledge you ve gained through independent study, or in the real world through jobs, civic and military engagement, volunteering, and even hobbies into college credit. In fact, if you re one of the millions of students who ve gained knowledge via the Khan Academy, a PLA may be just what you re looking for. That s because a Prior Learning Assessment is more than just a test. It s a process that colleges and universities use to evaluate what you ve learned outside the classroom for the purpose of assigning academic credit. In other words, perfect for MOOCS and Khan Academy alumni alike. And there s not just one type of PLA. You can choose different types of PLA to fit your style and your budget. Some are self-directed, and others are instructor-led with specific start and end dates. 10
Knowledge Is Power, but You Need Credits for A Degree It would be nice if MOOCs automatically gave you credit, but they don t. For you to make the most of the knowledge you got in your MOOC or through independent study like with the Khan Academy, you have to go the extra mile to gain college credit that counts towards your degree. Luckily for you, there s a way to travel that mile cheaper, quicker, and easier than you thought possible. 11
Part Four Taking Online College Courses for Credit Instead of MOOCs So, Are MOOCs for You? The answer depends on your educational goals and needs If you just love learning and don t care about earning credits for the courses you take, MOOCs are probably your lowest-cost learning option. Think of them as a jumbo online adult school where you can study something that interests you without paying for courses. If you are trying to earn a college degree and want to get the best education at the lowest possible cost, StraighterLine is probably your best option. StraighterLine courses offer some advantages that you should know You can earn college credit for StraighterLine courses. Thanks to an organization called the American Council on Education, you can transfer the credits you ve earned to hundreds of American colleges and universities. The result is that you can graduate college earlier, save money and complete many of your college s required courses on your own time. In fact, StraighterLine courses are guaranteed to transfer to partner colleges without an intermediary. After completing StraighterLine courses, you can work directly with a StraighterLine course advisor to transfer those courses directly to your partner college of choice. Alternatively, if you are looking at transferring your StraighterLine courses to a college outside of our partner college network, StraighterLine courses are eligible to receive ACE Credit. Through ACE, you are eligible to transfer your courses to over 1800 colleges. You enjoy the support of professors, tutors and student advisors at StraighterLine. MOOCs are lectures that are delivered online. StraighterLine courses are high-quality college courses that offer lessons, assignments and the support of student advisors and tutors. Some of our courses are professor-led, and our professors are live, not on video. You can expect to work hard when you take a course at StraighterLine, but you will be supported every step of the way. StraighterLine courses are also much more convenient and flexible than MOOCs. You can choose courses with no defined start or end dates. You can study when you want, online, with access to your course materials, lessons and tests 24/7/365. You can take as long as you need to finish the course, or finish as quickly as you want. 12
Are You a Student with a Plan? StraighterLine Can Help You Reach Your Goals MOOCs may be fancy and free, but StraighterLine courses will help you reach your goals one prerequisite course at a time. On the next few pages, you can find out more about StraighterLine, including our curriculum and our partner colleges. You can see what some of our satisfied students say about us, including the results of a survey of our alumni conduced by an independent research firm. 13
Thinking About Taking a MOOC? Consider Taking Online College Courses from StraighterLine Instead When you enroll at StraighterLine, you take our online, self-paced college courses in the comfort of your own home. If you pass those courses, they automatically transfer for full credit when you enroll in one of our accredited partner colleges. Your Degree Comes From Them. The Savings Comes From Us. Why pay more for the same degree? For just $99 a month plus as little as $49 per course registration fee, you can take as many 3- and 4-credit college courses as you want. Courses include: Business Accounting I Accounting II Business Communications Business Ethics Business Law Economics I: Macroeconomics Economics II: Microeconomics Financial Accounting Introduction to Business Managerial Accounting Organizational Behavior Principles of Management College Prep Developmental Writing Introductory Algebra Prior Learning Assessment Student Success English English Composition I English Composition II Humanities American Government Cultural Anthropology Introduction to Communications Introduction to Criminal Justice Introduction to Philosophy Introduction to Religion Introduction to Sociology Personal Finance United States History I United States History II Western Civilization I Western Civilization II Languages Spanish I Spanish II Mathematics Business Statistics Calculus I Calculus II College Algebra Precalculus Sciences Anatomy & Physiology I Anatomy & Physiology II First Aid/CPR General Chemistry I General Physics I General Physics II Introduction to Biology Introduction to Environmental Science Introduction to Nutrition Introduction to Psychology Medical Terminology Microbiology Personal Fitness & Wellness Pharmacology I Pharmacology II 14
Why StraighterLine? StraighterLine has been recognized as a revolutionizing force in education by major news organizations and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. We have forged partnerships with the leading accredited online colleges and universities. Our Partner Schools include: Our courses are evaluated and recommended by the American Council on Education s College Credit Recommendation Service (ACE CREDIT), which includes over 1,800 participating colleges and universities. In addition to the institutions with which StraighterLine has a direct relationship, more than 300 other schools are reported to have accepted StraighterLine coursework for transfer credit. 15
Don t Take Our Word for It. Listen to Our Students Because of your company I am able to finish my BA this year!!! I use the post 9/11 GI bill and doing these classes are saving me valuable time so I can move on to my MA next year!...i didn t think I would be able to have enough time for a BA and MA but straighterline is making it possible! Love the program!!! - Tawny Miller, 5/31/12 Love your program it is easily one of the most challenging and rewarding programs offered online. - Michelle Dyer, 3/7/12 Working full-time and caring for a family makes it impossible for me to attend brick and mortar classes during the week....there is no other product out there that can compare to StraighterLine s $99 monthly enrollment. It s cost effective, convenient, and makes earning your degree possible. I highly recommend StraighterLine! - Cory Hutchinson, 1/16/12 I ve had 10 courses transferred so far without any issue, and it s usually been very prompt in comparison to most schools I ve dealt with. - Adam Ditillo, 12/12/11...I also appreciate the unconditional support I have received from the school - it s so reassuring to know that there is a constant team of support while I am completing my courses - especially since I have been out of school for a long time! Thanks again for everything! - Laura Chimuk, 3/26/12 16
Our Students Grade Us! To better understand how our courses are meeting students needs, we commissioned a well-regarded higher education research firm to conduct a survey of our alumni. StraighterLine Students Earn Real College Credit 95% of the students who sought credit for completed StraighterLine coursework were successful. This includes nearly 82% of those who sought credit at colleges and universities outside the StraighterLine partner college network (ie, institutions with which StraighterLine does not have a formal articulation-like arrangement). StraighterLine s Programs Are Effective Over 70% who completed a StraighterLine course felt it made them more likely to complete a college degree. Over half felt better prepared for traditional college courses as a result of having taken a StraighterLine course. Students Are Overwhelmingly Satisfied with StraighterLine s Courses Among those who completed a StraighterLine course,over 90% would recommend the program to a friend. Satisfaction was remarkably high even among those who did not successfully complete,where 76% would still recommend StraighterLine to a friend. StraighterLine vs. Online Courses Offered by Traditional Colleges and Universities Respondents who had also earned college credit through an online course offered by a college or university were asked to compare that experience with StraighterLine on a number of measures. StraighterLine courses were found to be: Equally or more rigorous 91% indicated StraighterLine equally or more academically rigorous than Online University/ College Courses Continues 17
More convenient 70% indicated StraighterLine more convenient than Online University/College Courses More affordable 61% indicated StraighterLine lower cost than Online University/College Courses Greater overall satisfaction 94% indicated more or equally satisfied with Straighterline compared with Online University/ College Courses About the study: Hezel Associates invited to participate in the survey all students who had either successfully or unsuccessfully completed a StraighterLine course during the period from the company s inception to June 6, 2012. There was an 11.8% response rate during the data collection period. You can download a PDF of the final results at: http://www.straighterline.com/media/pdf/hezelreport-sl2012studentsurvey-publicfinal20120821.pdf 18
Notes 1 http://www.openculture.com/free_certificate_courses 2 Young, Jeffrey R., The Chronicle of Higher Education, At Conference, Leaders of Traditional Online Learning Meet Upstart Free Providers, 10/11/12 http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/at-conference-leaders-of-traditional-online-learning-meet-upstart-free-providers/40426 3 IBID 19