SCIENCE & EDUCATION

Students may soon be able to receive credit for the free online courses that are reshaping higher education, reports Associated Press. The American Council on Education (ACE) announced last Thursday that it is recommending degree credit for five undergraduate courses offered by Coursera, a company that provides massive open online courses – MOOCs – from leading universities.

"A rigorous evaluation of these courses showed that they meet ACE's standards for college credit recommendations," said Molly Corbett Broad, the ACE president. The council's recommendations are used by colleges and universities to determine whether to offer credit for non-traditional courses.

Over the past year, dozens of leading universities have begun offering free, digital versions of their most popular courses, allowing tens of thousands of students to take a class at the same time. But so far, few institutions have offered degree credit for them.

Source: University World News & The Brownsville Herald