The MOOCS in Higher Education: DIY Degrees and Diplomas by Saleem Nazimudeen

Author:Saleem, Nazimudeen [Saleem, Nazimudeen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: N Saleem
Published: 2014-01-06T16:00:00+00:00

apter 5: Do-It-Yourself Degrees and Diplomas

The Rational for DIY Degrees and Diplomas

The concept of DIY degrees and diplomas may sound a bit ambitious but seems suspicious for some too. Obviously, it is an innovative idea that the author came up with after contemplating on the MOOCS concept sometimes ago. Moreover, being an academic and an administrator for over twenty-five years, the author is very much involved with experimenting innovative strategies in the higher education sector. Based on the author’s experience as a programme manager for degree level courses as well as vocational BTEC courses in the UK along with US educational experience, it was possible to be visionary and creative in conceiving ideas for new product development in the higher education field. The idea of the MOOCS first received and greeted forthwith by the author without even questioning its challenges and consequences. It is fair to say that nobody deliberately launched the MOOCS with any strategic objectives to achieve but it was an accidental ‘by product’ of the technological innovation in the delivery of courses online.

In the meantime, over the decades, there have been several other developments, particularly in the USA. Modular system of offering courses, credit assignment as values for comparing the content and level of learning, being able to transfer credits for matching modules from one institution to another, self-regulated participating institution-led accreditation of courses, accreditation of prior learning, including through work experience and the amalgamation of vocational and academic disciplines in the university courses are obviously American innovations. In some US states, there are unaccredited but licensed universities, some would call them degree mills, offering so called bogus degrees based on the evaluation of work experience and previous educational achievements. These are essentially the process of resume or CV-led credit assignment leading to the award of degrees. Nobody would question the validity, if an accredited university adopts such an approach with an honest and rational evaluation of previous learning by non-traditional learning methods and work experience. In fact, it is an accepted but un-ubiquitous practice in almost every institution of higher education worldwide. All such assessments and evaluations of previous learning are, however, evidence-based unlike in the case of degree mills. A CV itself would not constitute an evidence of achievement. Nevertheless, if the universities were to accredit previous learning through competency assessment, including tests, then it would be much easier to award credits and the time factor of completing an undergraduate degree become irrelevant.

In most countries, there are standardized state-led framework that would compare awards and qualifications at various levels. In a market-led system as in the USA, establishing a common framework is even harder. However, the US system and the credit-based modular framework offering degree courses have been very effective. The rest of the world is very much happy with the US system now finds it logical to adopt such a model. The UK system have gradually turned to credit-based modular system and as per the National Qualification Framework, even the vocational courses such as the BTEC courses, including the Higher National Diploma, have adopted the credit-based model.

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