Seeking Better-Trained Workers, AT&T, Google and Other Firms Help Design and Even Fund Web-Based College Classes
Big employers such as AT&T Inc. and Google Inc. are helping to design and fund the latest round of low-cost online courses, a development that providers say will open the door for students to earn inexpensive credentials with real value in the job market.
New niche certifications being offered by providers of massive open online courses, or MOOCs, are aimed at satisfying employers' specific needs. Available at a fraction of the cost of a four-year degree, they represent the latest crack in the monopoly traditional universities have in credentialing higher education.
"The common denominator [among the new MOOC certification programs] is that there really is an interest in finding credentials that don't require a student to buy the entire degree," said Sebastian Thrun, the Stanford University computer-science professor who co-founded Udacity, a MOOC with 1.6 million enrolled students in 200 countries. "This is really democratizing education at its best."
A University of Pennsylvania professor and teaching assistant record a massive open online course, or MOOC
MOOCs began gaining wide popularity two years ago when three providers started offering high-quality online courses free to anyone. Millions of people have taken the classes, but most MOOCs don't lead toward degrees or help students land jobs.
That is beginning to change. Last week, Udacity announced the Open Education Alliance, which allows students to earn a free certificate based on a series of online courses developed with input from Google and AT&T, among several other companies.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, along with its MOOC partner edX, is starting a course sequence called the XSeries, and plans to ask for input from a consortium of about 50 companies, including United Parcel Service Inc., Procter & Gamble Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. For up to $700, students will be able to take a test and earn a "verified certificate" in subjects like computer science and supply-chain management.
Meanwhile, companies such as Yahoo Inc. have begun reimbursing employees who take certified courses from Coursera, another MOOC provider.
Sebastian Thrun, co-founder and CEO of online course provider Udacity, at a conference this month.
Companies involved in the Open Education Alliance have committed to build at least one class at a cost of about $250,000. In return, they will receive access to a talent pool guaranteed to have studied the skills the employer wants, said Scott Smith, an AT&T vice president in charge of global hiring.
"We demand a certain amount of talent…the more entities that can help supply, the better," said Mr. Smith.
The convergence of industry and online educators comes as students seek cheaper ways to get through college. Tuition at U.S. universities rose at more than three times the inflation rate over the past decade. Student debt recently topped $1 trillion. At the same time, some employers have expressed growing skepticism that graduates of traditional universities are truly ready for a job.
Some community colleges and universities have responded by selling smaller, cheaper packages of classes that lead to certificates instead of two- or four-year degrees. But these alternatives risk undermining the prestige of the schools' more expensive degrees.
MOOCS are speeding up this unbundling by cutting prices further and faster, with high-profile schools like MIT harnessing the trend in hopes that what is lost in tuition can be made up in scale.
Critics worry that if corporations take control of curricula they could skew what is learned to benefit their short-term bottom line at the long-term expense of the student.
"The danger you have is too many kids getting a very narrowly focused education," said Benjamin Ginsberg, a professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University. "The great virtue of, let's say, a general-engineering degree is when technologies change or the marketplace changes, you will have the intellectual tools to adapt to that."
Skeptics add that MOOCs don't have a proven record. A recent report on the partnership for course credit between San Jose State University and Udacity revealed low pass rates.
At the moment, a typical student enrolled in a MOOC is likely to have graduated from college and is using the course to explore an interest or burnish professional skills, though increasing numbers of undergraduates are signing up.
Bill Bunting, a 44-year-old technology officer at a startup in Virginia, has a master's degree in computer science. He recently took a Coursera course on gamification—using videogame mechanics to solve problems—from the University of Pennsylvania. The course, he said, gave him a credential to prove "I was serious about understanding the topic."
Mr. Thrun said the Open Education Alliance was driven by the pace of change in the technology industry and the inability of established universities to keep up. He sees several other business areas the alliance could move into, including finance.
About 10% of U.S. jobs require training in science, technology, engineering and math fields, but don't require a four-year degree, according to a recent report from the Brookings Institution.
"What we are really establishing are educational pathways for people who want skills that are relevant to contemporary jobs," said Mr. Thrun.
A version of this article appeared September 27, 2013, on page A3 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Job Market Embraces Massive Online Courses.
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