Eau Claire (WQOW) - UW-Madison is
offering a unique set of online classes free to anyone with Internet access. There's
just one small catch, passing the class doesn't mean you get credit. UW-Eau Claire
is looking at offering the classes as well. But first, they're doing their
homework.
"There are a lot of
questions left to be answered," said Dr. Michael Wick, UW-Eau Claire Associate Vice
Chancellor.
Called massive open online classes,
or MOOC's, they're offered free to anyone with Internet access through an
agreement between the school and an outside company like Coursera.
"You're MOOC's,
developed for the campus, would be uploaded to their site. And then students
gain access through that site. You complete the course, and then they recommend
to campuses what this course might count for as far as credits," Wick
explained.
And that's just it, there's no
guarantee anyone actually gets college credit. Right now, UW- Eau Claire has
one professor testing the idea.
"It's an access
issue for us, and it's a wonderful opportunity for students who have limited
financial means, who may have holes in their background that they want to
address prior to coming to our campus," said Wick.
A student we spoke with liked the
idea, but had questions herself.
"Just being able to
take a class in my own time does sound interesting, but because you're not
being guaranteed the credit, why would someone want to waste their time doing
that if they don't know for sure if they're going to get the credit for it,"
said Emily Kjerstad, a UW-Eau Claire sophomore.
Professors would be paid for posting
content, but not using state dollars.
"In the Madison case, I think
they're working through their foundation, using donor dollars to develop these
MOOC's. In other cases, contracts with external agencies like Coursera and
others, they can enter into a financial relationship to repay the faculty
member,"
For now, the university says it's
happy to let others lead the way.
"We've decided at
this point to kind of allow the industry to look into those questions,"
Wick said.
UW-Madison is a;ready offering the
classes, and it's not alone. The University
of Minnesota and Penn State University also have course offerings
available.
