Joins Select UPCEA Members Collaborating through American Council on
Education Grant from Gates Foundation
CHARLES TOWN, W.Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr. 8, 2013--
American
Public University System (APUS) today announced that it will partner
with the University Professional & Continuing Education Association
(UPCEA), the University of Illinois - Springfield and several other
UPCEA member institutions to examine the potential of massive open
online courses (MOOCs) and how MOOCs could integrate into traditional
degree completion programs.
The UPCEA pilot program, funded through an American Council on Education
(ACE) grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will help
determine how students succeed at higher education institutions after
having received credit for a MOOC, according to Dr. Jennifer
Stephens-Helm, vice president, institutional research & assessment, for
APUS.
“APUS is honored to participate in this important cross-institutional
effort to identify to what extent MOOCs reach low-income, young adult
and older adult learners, and whether MOOCs may aid in degree or
certificate completion,” said Stephens-Helm, who will oversee APUS’s
efforts as part of the consortium. “Our prior experience in
collaborating on such similar initiatives as Next
Generation Learning Challenges and the Predictive
Analytics Reporting Framework will help us assess and share
meaningful data to expand student access and improve learning outcomes.”
The UPCEA project’s long-term objective is to work with APUS and other
participating institutions to apply credit for successful completion of
MOOCs qualified by the industry- standard ACE College Credit
Recommendation Service. The University of Illinois - Springfield Center
for Online Learning, Research and Service will examine the pedagogy and
practices employed by each institution, including Central Michigan
University, Kaplan University, Regis University, SUNY - Empire State,
University of Maryland – University College and Western Carolina
University, in addition to APUS. Anonymized data will be collected on
the demographics, academic background/ performance, and related
information about the students granted MOOC credit.
The initial research phase will focus on developing a taxonomic pedagogy
for various types of MOOCs, including quantitative, humanities,
professional and others. This approach will better enable tracking the
characteristics, persistence and related qualities of students as they
progress at APUS and other participating institutions. The project
ultimately seeks to leverage this baseline data to help enlighten the
design and implementation of future studies in credit for MOOCs.
About American Public University System
American
Public University System, winner of the Sloan Consortium’s 2009
Ralph E. Gomory Award for Quality Online Education and two-time
recipient of Sloan’s Effective Practices Award, offers 87 online degree
programs through American
Public University and American
Military University. APUS’s relevant curriculum, affordability and
flexibility help more than 100,000 working adults worldwide pursue
degrees in subjects ranging from homeland security to management and
liberal arts. For further information, visit http://www.apus.edu/
Source: American Public University System (APUS)
American Public University System (APUS)
Brian Muys, 571-358-3145
bmuys@apus.edu