The Chronicle for Higher Education reports that MIT is proposing to use its own free open online courses as a filter to sort through all the people who want to be in master’s programs there. (Story is here)
Students who do well in a series of free online courses and a related online examination offered through MIT’s MOOC project, MITx, will “enhance their chances” of being accepted to the on-site master’s program, according to a university statement. Students who come to the program after first taking the MOOCs will then essentially place out of the first half of the coursework, so they can finish the degree in a semester rather than an academic year. That effectively makes the master’s program half the usual price.
Now, if only they can turn their brains toward developing a better acronym than MOOC.
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