California college students shut out of classes could earn credits online if new legislation passes

[KamaAina]

but there's a catch.

http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_22782243/credit-online-college-courses-offered-new-california-legislation

California could become the first in the nation to require its public colleges to address overcrowding by accepting credits for private sector online courses that would enable tens of thousands of students shut out of classes to move along....

The bill would help the many students who end up taking frivolous courses just to keep their full-time status and financial aid, backers say.

But others say that by turning to online education, the Legislature isn't addressing the real issue: not enough classes and not enough professors.

Steinberg's news conference announcing the bill -- complete with a Google Hangout interactive video stream -- reflected an online education frenzy that has swept the globe in the past year. Working with top university professors, Silicon Valley startups Udacity and Coursera have put hundreds of free courses online, reaching millions of students worldwide.

Did you catch the "private sector" piece? If UC and (especially) CSU and the community colleges want to offer online sections of their high-demand courses, I say go fo it. But this is an attempt to privatize higher education analogous to what we're seeing with charter schools in K-12 education.

You've got to wonder what kind of connections these Udacity and Coursera outfits have.

[Starry Messenger]

1. I think the Udacity CEO is buds with Jerry.

It is an attempt to privatize. MOOCs have a very low completion rate, which is also a concern.

It is risky, since this program is being piloted on enrolled students who can't afford to gamble a semester on a program that can lose 75-90% of its students during the course.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/collegeprose/2013/01/28/moocs-a-college-education-online/