Taking Stock of MOOCs and Credit Substitutability

Since their inception, MOOCs have had a complicated relationship with traditional models of high-stakes, high-value college credit. Early MOOCs were modeled after for-credit courses but were required to be deliberately differentiated from actual for-credit enrollment. Later MOOCs actively separated from for-credit classes, leaving more leeway to experiment with topic, scope, and audience, albeit without the incentive introduced by a connection to a college curriculum. Since then, though, there have been several efforts to relink MOOCs to some form of heavier credential. In this paper, we take inventory of the current landscape of MOOCs and their varying links to college credit. We draw on the idea of credit substitutability as a way of understanding how far from credit a particular course may be. We articulate multiple factors that contribute to substitutability, including scope, assessment, and integrity. Using these factors, we illustrate a spectrum of credit substitutability in MOOCs that includes large classes in affordable degrees at scale; MOOCs with attached mechanisms for credit exchange like MicroMaster's programs, MOOCs that build on content used for for-credit experiences; and MOOCs offered through international platforms with a clearer focus on inter-university credit exchange.