Massive Open Online Courses (M.O.O.C.) are a great way opportunity to take free classes from universities like Harvard, MIT, Stanford, CalTech, Hillsdale and other “big names,” without the pricetag, but is there a way to get college credit for these free courses? Officially no, but unofficially? Maybe.
The concept of a MOOC is simple: a trusted college or university shares—for free or very low cost—the content of their top courses taught by top professors to anyone with a desire to learn! It’s a little bit like visiting the public library, but instead of checking out a book, you can register for a World Literature course by Harvard, Quantum Physics through MIT, or Music Theory 101 at Juilliard.
Most MOOCs offer the option of upgrading to a certificate, but since the certificate isn’t for college credit, we’ll leave that option off the table. There are some other college credit options that we’ll discuss in a minute. The free or very low-cost option places the accountability with the student—in other words, you’ll listen to lectures and do the reading, but you won’t be graded on the homework. The up-side is you can try your hand at any subject and simply drop out if it’s not for you. No harm, no foul, no permanent record. It’s exactly like the public library, where the motivated student can devour any and everything that catches their interest without expectation.
MOOCs for High School Credit
MOOCs are a fantastic homeschool curriculum option because the student is taking a college class at home, supervised by the parent, and the parent awards the high school credit in the amount they deem appropriate. In the majority of cases, the parent doesn’t have to do any grading, and they have full control over the extent to which their teen completes the work. Perhaps the parent wants to assign additional homework, but in other cases, the parent allows the teen just to follow the course independently. There really are no “rules” here! If you want to enhance the experience, you may choose to purchase the upgraded certificate option (if available), but these classes are more for a motivated student than one who needs close monitoring and external feedback.
By using MOOCs as your curriculum provider, you can award a grade and record high school credit on their transcript as general or honors-level credit.
Here’s an example of one 12th grader’s schedule comprised totally of courses taken through edX.
- Science: Human Anatomy (University of Michigan)
- Math: College Algebra (Arizona State University)
- Civics: American Government (Harvard)
- Technology: Introduction to Computer Science (MIT)
- Fine Arts Elective: History of Art (University of Pennsylvania)
- Language Arts: AP English Literature and Composition (UC Berkeley)
- Language Arts Elective: Journalism for Social Change (UC Berkeley)
MOOCs for College Credit
MOOCs weren’t designed for college credit, but there are essentially 2 ways you can make it happen for your teen.
(1) Pick a class or classes that align well with credit by exam (CLEP, AP, DSST). In this case, you may build a high school program that will also prepare your teen for a credit-by-exam test that they can take later. The credit-by-exam approach is the lowest-cost and most flexible option, and it allows you to play things a little by ear. If your teen is thriving, you can pursue the exam with enthusiasm, but if their interest falls off, you aren’t locked into a college credit course that leaves a paper trail. Since most college freshman courses tend to cover similar content, chances are excellent that most MOOCs offered through these universities will all cover the same major themes. As such, you can expect the scope and sequence of MOOC courses to align well with CLEP, AP, or DSST.
(2) There are small but consistent efforts by some of the large MOOC providers to allow students an opportunity to earn college credit directly through the course. These verification processes differ by provider, but in short, they usually involve passing some type of proctored final exam and paying a fee. Not all MOOCs are set up to convert into college credit, so if you’re looking for direct credit, you’ll have to choose from their lists. Also, these courses, especially those that funnel you into a certificate or degree, can have a lot of strings attached.
One example is the “Microbachelor’s Certificate” in Chemistry being offered through the Harvard University MOOC on edX. This series of courses cost over $1,000 and is worth 8 college credits. The college credit, however, is not Harvard’s college credit, another college, a partner college, agrees to transcribes it for you. The idea is that you might go on and earn your degree at that partner college, but in the Homeschooling for College Credit community, our teens are still in high school, so the portability and transferability of credit is VERY important. The two snags here are that (A) The credit is recorded as pass/fail credit, which rarely transfers well and (B) is not taught by the partner college, which will be evident on the transcript. This attempt at credit laundering is unlikely to be successful. In short, spending $1,000 for THIS TYPE OF college credit is an expensive mistake.
At the time of this writing, there are several colleges that are attempting to create flexible and affordable paths that all stem from MOOC programs. It is my opinion that the undergraduate (bachelor’s degree) programs are still too expensive, too uncertain, and clumsy to make sense for high school students TODAY. I expect that to change eventually. The master’s degrees, on the other hand, are a steal.
Secular MOOCs You Should Know About
- edX www.edX.org
- Coursera www.coursera.org
- Alison https://alison.com
Christian MOOCs You Should Know About
- Christian Leaders College Christian Leaders College
- Hillsdale College www.hillsdale.edu
