Awarding College Credit for MOOCs - The Role of the American Council on Education

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by ahduag

Emerging alongside the open educational resources movement, massive open online courses (MOOCs) have been widely promoted for expanding access to higher education. This article examines implications of the American Council on Education (ACE) recommendation to award college credit for selected MOOC offerings, considering access and affordability benchmarks and recent credentialing developments. It analyzes an innovative partnership between Arizona State University’s Global Freshman Academy and edX, assessing how accessible, affordable alternative credentialing pathways may disrupt and transform higher education.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Keywords

ACE Credit Recommendation and Evaluation

Partnerships and Credentialing Pathways

MOOCs and Higher Education Disruption

SPECIAL ISSUE Models of Open Education in Higher Education education policy analysis archives A peer-reviewed, independent, open access, multilingual journal Arizona State University | Volume 24 Number 38 | March 28, 2016 | ISSN 1068-2341 | | --- | --- | --- | Awarding College Credit for MOOCs: The Role of the American Council on Education Jason Stone Oklahoma State University United States Citation: Stone, J. (2016) Awarding college credit for MOOCs: The role of the American Council on Education. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 24(38). [http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.24.1765](http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.24.1765)[ ](http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.24.1765)[This article is part of EPAA/AAPE](This article is part of EPAA/AAPE)’[s Special Issue on](s Special Issue on Models of)[ Models of](s Special Issue on Models of)Open Education in Higher Education, Guest Co-Edited by Dr. Lisa Petrides and Dr. Cynthia Jimes. Abstract: Emerging alongside the open educational resources movement of the past decade, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been widely heralded as advancing cause of providing increased access to higher education. The article explores the implications of the recommendation by the American Council on Education (ACE) to offer college credit for a select group of MOOC offerings, with regard to benchmarks of access and affordability, in light of recent developments in credentialing. In particular, the article examines the innovative partnership between Arizona State University’s Global Freshman Academy (GFA) and MOOC provider edX, with regard to its potential to both disrupt and transform higher education by contributing to the development of accessible, affordable, alternative credentialing pathways. Keywords: credentials; credits; college transfer students; distance education; educational innovation; educational technology; electronic learning; equal educational opportunity; influence of technology; instructional design; instructional innovation; Internet; online courses; prior learning; web-based instruction Otorgando créditos universitarios a través de MOOCs: El papel del Consejo Americano de Educación Resumen: Con el auge del movimiento de los recursos educativos abiertos en la pasada década, los Cursos Online Masivos Abiertos (MOOCs, por sus siglas en inglés) se han proclamado como la mayor causa del avance en el acceso y la asequibilidad de la educación superior. Este artículo analiza las implicaciones de la recomendación de la American Council on Education (ACE) de ofrecer créditos universitarios para un grupo selecto de ofertas MOOC, en relación con los puntos de referencia de acceso y asequibilidad y a la luz de los recientes progresos en la acreditación. En concreto, este artículo examina la innovadora colaboración entre la Global Freshman Academy (GFA) de la Universidad Estatal de Arizona y el proveedor edX de MOOC, con respecto a supotencial de alterar y transformar la educación superior a través de su contribución al desarrollo devías de acreditación alternativas, accesibles y asequibles. Palabras clave: credenciales; créditos; transferencia de estudiantes universitarios; educación adistancia; innovación educativa; tecnología educativa; aprendizaje electrónico; oportunidadeseducativas; influencia tecnológica; diseño instruccional; innovación en la instrucción; Internet; cursosen línea; aprendizaje previo; instrucción por Internet Dando créditos universitários através MOOCs: O papel do Conselho Americano de Educação Resumo: Emergindo do movimento da década previa dos recursos educativos abertas, Cursos Abertos Massivos Em-líneas (ou MOOC, seu acrômio inglesa), tem sido anunciado como o maioravance em prover aceso à educação superior. O artigo examine as implicações da recomendação do American Council on Education (ACE) em oferecer créditos universitários para um seleto grupo deofertas de MOOC com respeito aos benchmarks de acessibilidade e custo, e com consideraçã

FAQs

What recommendation from ACE does the article analyze?

The article analyzes ACE’s recommendation that selected MOOCs be evaluated by member institutions for the awarding of college credit.

How does the article frame the relationship between MOOCs, access, and affordability?

It considers the ACE recommendation in light of benchmarks of access and affordability and recent developments in credentialing.

Which partnership is examined as a key example?

The article examines the partnership between Arizona State University’s Global Freshman Academy and the MOOC provider edX.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by ahduag