THE 1 PERCENT: Of the 34,086 students who signed up for classes at Global Freshman Academy (GFA)—the online, credit-bearing program between Arizona State and edX—only 323 can earn course credits, reports Inside Higher Ed. To be eligible, students have to earn a grade of C in the or better in the class, and pay $49 to verify their identities. And that’s before paying $600 to get the credit available from the first three GFA MOOCs.
Each MOOC “saw only about 1,100 learners remain active in the course throughout its seven-week duration,” reports Carl Straumsheim. The university calls it a “positive first step.” But others will surely exhume conversations around low MOOC completion rates.