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MIT Master's Program To Use MOOCs As 'Admissions Test' (chronicle.com)

Posted by Soulskill on from the a-course-is-a-course,-of-course,-of-course dept.

jyosim writes: In what could usher a new way of doing college admissions at elite colleges, MIT is experimenting with weighing MOOC performance as proof that students should be accepted to on-campus programs. The idea is to fix the "inexact science" of sorting through candidates from all over the world. And it gives students a better sense of what they're getting into: "When you buy a car, you take a test drive. Wouldn't it be a great value for prospective students to take a test course before they apply?" said one academic blogger.

23 of 112 comments (clear)

  1. What about the other test can you get a loan or pa by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 2

    What about the other test can you get a loan or pay for it with out one?

  2. MOOC = Massive Open Online Course by wasteoid · · Score: 5, Informative

    For those like me who don't automatically know what some random acronym means.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    Also, shame on submitter / editor for not including acronym expansion.

    1. Re:MOOC = Massive Open Online Course by BotanistPrime · · Score: 5, Insightful

      MOOC is not a commonly used term. The ones you mentioned are. Do you understand the difference?

    2. Re:MOOC = Massive Open Online Course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      AICCFAWTEAAOFU*

      *Also, it's common courtesy for a writer to explain an acronym on first use.

    3. Re:MOOC = Massive Open Online Course by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 2

      Don't be a DB.

      Certainly not. If you're a DB, the DBA will keep performing inner joins on your column. Ouch.

      --
      Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
    4. Re:MOOC = Massive Open Online Course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Clearly not as many people know what MOOC means, hence the debate right here in the comments and the +5 given to the post pointing out what it means.

      This is actual evidence showing that no, it is not well known on this site despite what you believe should be the case.

      Now, you can pat yourself on the back, puff out your chest, and congratulate yourself about how smart you are for knowing this term all you want; but it does not change the fact that the term is not yet particularly well known.

    5. Re:MOOC = Massive Open Online Course by Jack9 · · Score: 4, Informative

      I have heard of lots of acronyms. That doesn't mean I'm familiar with them.

      > MOOC

      Until I read the wikipedia entry, I had no idea what it meant even though I've participated in one (started on Stanford's machine learning).

      > first introduced in 2008 and emerged as a popular mode of learning in 2012

      Popular? That's laughable. Easily accessible, yes.

      --

      Often wrong but never in doubt.
      I am Jack9.
      Everyone knows me.
    6. Re:MOOC = Massive Open Online Course by shess · · Score: 2

      MOOC is not a commonly used term. The ones you mentioned are. Do you understand the difference?

      Do you understand the difference between publishing a summary on CNN and publishing on a site where MOOC should be as commonly known as a term like SSD? If you are even remotely part of the IT industry, it is very unlikely that MOOC is a term you are unfamiliar with.

      In terms of common usage, I would put MOOC in the same category as a term like UAT.

      A) I know what MOOC means, but have no idea what UAT means.

      B) Is Slashdot suffering a financial problem which requires that posting text be compressed into acronyms to save space? Is there a place we can send donations to help them get through this rough spot?

    7. Re:MOOC = Massive Open Online Course by sexconker · · Score: 2

      MOOC is not a commonly used term. The ones you mentioned are. Do you understand the difference?

      Do you understand the difference between publishing a summary on CNN and publishing on a site where MOOC should be as commonly known as a term like SSD? If you are even remotely part of the IT industry, it is very unlikely that MOOC is a term you are unfamiliar with.

      In terms of common usage, I would put MOOC in the same category as a term like UAT. Unfortunately google disagrees with me, since it appears MOOC is twice as commonly used as UAT (another term no one here should be hearing for the first time).

      http://www.acronymfinder.com/M...
      http://www.acronymfinder.com/U...

      Fuck off with your prescriptions as to what acronyms every person "even remotely part of the IT industry" should know.
      I only know MOOC because it's a shitty buzzword. I didn't know what UAT was because there are dozens of possible meanings, and the likely meaning you're referring to is related to "UX" bullshit where you talk about the user's feelings as they use a program blind.

    8. Re:MOOC = Massive Open Online Course by Your.Master · · Score: 2

      I'd also put MOOC and UAT in the same category. Acronyms I assume that most slashdotters did not know.

      User-Acceptance testing is something I typically see spelled out.

      Lets use your same link to compare the other three acronyms pointed out here, CPU, RAM, and SSD:

      http://www.google.com/trends/e...

      Both MOOC and UAT are barely perceptible on the graph. Your earlier graph also shows that MOOC only really appeared as a term around 2 and a bit years ago, and has never been a common term.

      It's not even clear to me why MOOC would have anything to do with the IT industry in particular. It seems like a term that the education industry should be familiar with. I bet the vast majority of students of a MOOC cannot recognize the acronym. I can at least understand somebody thinking that UAT was a common industry abbreviation because it is related to the industry.

      If you are even remotely part of the IT industry, it is very unlikely that MOOC is a term you are unfamiliar with.

      You have clear evidence to the contrary.

  3. black market of test takers ... by arit · · Score: 2

    This will just incentivize a black market of MOOC students for hire.

    1. Re:black market of test takers ... by internerdj · · Score: 2

      My thoughts exactly. Having something this prestigious have a standardized way to get past the first hurdle, I'll bet by second semester you'll have people gaming the system. You probably can slow the phenomenon by randomizing the course choice, but I can't imagine this going on too many years before it is completely worthless as a filtering device.

    2. Re:black market of test takers ... by ranton · · Score: 3, Informative

      This is already a solved problem for numerous certification testing programs. Just make sure all official tests need to be taken at a webassessor location, or something similar. If universities are serious about using MOOCs for credit or for admission, they have plenty of options that would significantly reduce* cheating.

      * Obviously you cannot completely remove cheating, but that is true on campus as well.

      --
      -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
    3. Re:black market of test takers ... by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

      Anyone caught cheating should be transferred to the MBA program.

      Those who can cheat without getting caught are probably already on it.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  4. Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Given the rampant cheating that goes on in MOOCs all they're going to get is students who are good cheating and hiding their lack of knowledge. Those people shouldn't be going to MIT. They're future politicians and MBA holders, not engineers.

  5. You are all MOOCS! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Somebody had to do it.

  6. We need to stop people from wasting money. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Anything we can do that stops people from wasting money on college will help to solve the massive problem that exists in this country right now. There are millions of kids that go to college that really have no business being there. Colleges have learned and adapted to the free market system we now suffer under and have realized that the more they can sell college as an automatic ticket to "the good life", and the more parents they can make feel inadequate if they don't fork over the dough to send their precious children there, the more $$$ they will be rolling in. There should be strict admissions testing for college just like we had to have strict requirements to receive a mortgage after the 2009 subprime lending crisis that nearly destroyed the economy. What we have going right now is a massive scam where millions of young people are sold a bill of goods and spend the rest of their lives paying back loans that they cannot get rid of, working in jobs that are nothing like what they were told they would have when they were first courted by the universities that dot our landscape. Protip: The college campuses are not as nice as they are because they have lots of wealthy alums contributing back millions to the college. They're as nice as they are because of all the people like you who are mortgaging the rest of your life to make them wealthy.

    1. Re:We need to stop people from wasting money. by tburkhol · · Score: 2

      Back in the "good old days," an educated populace was a source of communal pride. Providing everyone with the opportunity to try (and the opportunity to fail) to better themselves through education used to be a way to reward individual initiative and merit. It's why we have land grant schools and the GI Bill. "State" schools were actually funded by the states; they'd let anyone in; and many of them would fail.

      Now, it seems that education has become an individual benefit for which the individual should pay. Nobody wants to pay to educate his neighbor's dumb kid. State support for "public" universities has dried up, and they depend on tuition to keep the lights on.

      They have discovered market forces. Faculty can bring in more money doing research than teaching students. Students who flunk out don't pay tuition, so retention has become a major issue. Keep the customer happy, comfortable, and hopeful. Don't fail them just because they struggle with a few concepts.

      Of course, it used to be that success in college was a good indicator of competency. If (almost) anyone can get a degree in exchange for tuition, then the degree loses that value

  7. Why weren't you in class today? by NotDrWho · · Score: 2

    "Why weren't you in class today?"

    "I was. I logged on and no one was there."

    "No, I mean why weren't you in CLASS?"

    "I went to the website."

    "Did you go to the CLASSROOM?"

    "What's a classroom? You mean the chatroom?"

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
  8. "take a test course" by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Isn't that called your undergrad degree?

  9. Re:Good for them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Yeah, that kid that was smart enough to take an alarm clock out of it's case and put it into another is getting free ride from MIT. Not only was he smart enough to use a screwdriver, he was smart/lucky enough not to electrocute himself in the process!

  10. Re:What about the other test can you get a loan or by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

    If it's a test of English, you should probably hold on to your money.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  11. Re:Harsher by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 2

    Wow, science is more difficult and time-consuming than either science or the humanities. No second guesses to tell which of the two you came from.