Outsourcing Public Higher Ed

Paul Fain and Ry Rivard:

A powerful California lawmaker wants public college students who are shut out of popular courses to attend low-cost online alternatives - including those offered by for-profit companies - and he plans to encourage the state's public institutions to grant credit for those classes.

The proposal expected today from Darrell Steinberg, a Democrat and president pro tem of the state Senate, aims to create a "statewide system of faculty-approved, online college courses," according to a written statement from Steinberg's office. (A spokesman for Steinberg declined to discuss the bill.)

Faculty would decide which courses should make the cut for a pool of online offerings. Likely participants include Udacity and Coursera, two major massive open online course providers, sources said. Another option might be StraighterLine, a low-cost, self-paced online course company.

Those online providers are not accredited and cannot directly issue credit. But the American Council on Education (ACE) offers credit recommendations for successfully completed StraighterLine courses and is currently reviewing MOOCs for credit recommendations, with five from Coursera already gaining approval. Potentially credit-bearing MOOCs will likely include efforts to verify students' identities and proctored exams.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at March 15, 2013 2:04 AM
Subscribe to this site via RSS/Atom: Newsletter signup | Send us your ideas