Credits & MOOCs

People want to learn for many purposes. They may want to learn something they  are really interested in, but they didn't study in school or as their courses for for a degree traditional education. They may want to learn something because they need them in their work or daily life, in this case, the knowledge or skills they want to learn is a kind of extension or complement of knowledge. Certainly, a lot of people learn something for a degree and a future career. I think these should be the people's main purpose of learning.

From these angle, we maybe can divided the students on MOOCs into three big types. The first type learn something from their interest, some learn for the needs of daily life or job, and some of them learn for achieving a degree. Among them, the first kind of people may less care about credits, the third kind of people care credits most, and the second kind of people are in the middle. Credits can be an evidence that you have learned something, and you have reached the study requirement of one course.It is a rigid way to prove what you have learned. However, obviously, it is also the most effective and easiest way to assess students. MOOC is a great way to learn, but not all of students who learn on MOOCs can get credits. There are just a few courses on MOOC which can give students credits if they pass the exams and complete the study. Meanwhile, there are just a few college or universities accept the credits from MOOC. It seems unfair to some people, because people who perform poorly and get a C in schools will get credits, but who learn well on MOOC get no credit (Into the Future With MOOC's).  It is undeniable that the value of credits has shrunk to some extent, along with the increasing enrollment of universities and colleges. Therefore, who complete a course and pass exams on MOOC seems should be given credits, and these credits should be accepted by universities and colleges (Into the Future With MOOC's). 

Colorado State University-Global Campus is the first school in United States to grant credit to students who passed a MOOC, but the result is no takers (A University's Offer of Credit for a MOOC Gets No Takers).I think that does not mean MOOC met a big fail. It is normal to some extent, because people are not inclined to spend money or efforts on a new thing which is not widely acknowledged and accepted, especially when the thing is serious for them, like credits. If just a few courses and a few universities accept the credits from MOOCs, it is hard to persuade students to take, even it is cheap, because it has no guarantee for its universal acceptance. Therefore, I believe MOOC still need a relatively long time to build a stable， feasible and acceptable credits awarding system. Some people mentioned that MOOCs can provide prior learning credits (Making It Count), I think it is a good idea. Through this way, students can get their degree more cheaply and quickly, but how to evaluate their knowledge have learned is problematic.

As to me, I think the widely accepted of credits from MOOC is a main way to attract students to get credits from MOOC, but new questions arising. If the credits can be widely approved and accepted on MOOCs, is there any limitations there? In other word, will all of the courses on MOOCs  be approved to give credits, if not, what kind of courses can be approved, what is the standards or measures? If most of the courses can be approved, and then MOOCs may attract more students and famous professors. Consequently, education seems will be more and more in the hands of famous universities，and then the uneven distribution of educational resources may causes new problems. Of course, MOOCs' runner may have abilities to solve these problems, but I do think they are worthy of consideration.