For anyone who's used Coursera

[misty.warden]

Some class descriptions say they award a certificate of completion, however part of the Terms of Service is that using those certificates as actual coursework for a diploma without Coursera's permission is not allowed and there's no implied relationship between Coursera and actual universities. So I guess my question is, because these are pretty much free audit courses except for to get the certificate you have to do the work, has anyone here actually requested to use them for credit transfer or HS credit? Some of the courses look pretty meaty, but it's a lot of work to get a pretty much meaningless certificate.

[MomatHWTK]

We homeschool so when I took a class and had DS watch along with me I gave him credit for it. I checked off the "elective" box on the chart I use to keep track of what he's studying and made note of what class he had taken. I would guess if you are designing a high school course and determine that participating in a Coursera class is worth X number of credits you would just note such on the transcript.

[misty.warden]

We homeschool so when I took a class and had DS watch along with me I gave him credit for it. I checked off the "elective" box on the chart I use to keep track of what he's studying and made note of what class he had taken. I would guess if you are designing a high school course and determine that participating in a Coursera class is worth X number of credits you would just note such on the transcript.

 

 

That's where I'm confused. On the transcript under History you'd put "Coursera - A History of the World Since 1300" and the number of credits?

 

From the Terms of Service(emphasis mine): "You acknowledge that the Letter of Completion, and Coursera’s Online Courses, will not stand in the place of a course taken at an accredited institution, and do not convey academic credit. You acknowledge that neither the instructors of any Online Course nor the associated Participating Institutions will be involved in any attempts to get the course recognized by any educational or accredited institution."

 

Effectively, using the courses for credit is not allowed so why do they offer certificates? Homeschooling lets the parent decide the curriculum used and how many credits it is worth on a transcript, and Coursera courses seem like cool resources used as curriculum for high school credit but do the people evaluating the transcript ask for proof of completion?

[MomatHWTK]

I'd probably just put World History 1300 to present without indicating the resources used. But, I'm nowhere near high school level yet so I'm just guessing.

[elegantlion]

That's where I'm confused. On the transcript under History you'd put "Coursera - A History of the World Since 1300" and the number of credits?

 

From the Terms of Service(emphasis mine): "You acknowledge that the Letter of Completion, and Coursera’s Online Courses, will not stand in the place of a course taken at an accredited institution, and do not convey academic credit. You acknowledge that neither the instructors of any Online Course nor the associated Participating Institutions will be involved in any attempts to get the course recognized by any educational or accredited institution."

 

Effectively, using the courses for credit is not allowed so why do they offer certificates? Homeschooling lets the parent decide the curriculum used and how many credits it is worth on a transcript, and Coursera courses seem like cool resources used as curriculum for high school credit but do the people evaluating the transcript ask for proof of completion?

 

 

My understanding is that Coursera does not issue credit (as in you can't use it for college credit anywhere), that doesn't mean we, as homeschoolers, cannot give credit for the class. I've not used Coursera's history so I don't know if it's worthy of a full credit or would be better as a supplement. The certificate is a certificate of completion, not a grade or proof of completing an "accredited" class.

 

I probably would not listed it on a transcript as a Coursera class. I would list it as World History or something like that. I would list the Coursera under materials used if any college requires a book list. The certificate itself is probably a nice pat on the back, I can't imagine any college would actually ask to see it.

 

We are using Udacity Physics this year. It's just a portion of his physics class. It will be listed as "physics" only on the transcript.

 

HTH

[regentrude]

If you are homeschooling, you can award credit for ANY way your student has studied the subject - coop, textbooks, OCW, Coursera, parent lecturing...

Coursera does not award college credit. But what you do in your homeschool to have your student satisfy your high school graduation requirements is a different issue. You don't have to request anything from them, and I would not even bother with the certificate.

 

I would list it among all the resources used for the course in the course description, but label the class on the transcript simply "World History".

[Enjoyinglife365]

xx

[misty.warden]

Thanks for the info, everyone.

 

I would list it among all the resources used for the course in the course description, but label the class on the transcript simply "World History".

 

 

This is interesting. My ps transcript of course didn't list course descriptions. Do homeschool transcripts have a different format to list curriculum used?

[KAR120C]

I use Coursera as a source of material... like a textbook. I don't necessarily ask DS to do all the assignments (if they're good I probably will, and if they aren't we'll skip them) and I might add other requirements. So for instance he did a Mythology class with Coursera this fall. He did all the readings and quizzes, and one of the two papers. I used the quiz grades for 25% of his course grade, and I marked the paper myself for another 25%. In addition to the Coursera work, he's preparing for the Medusa exam with extra reading and another paper, and those will be the last 50% of the course grade. For all of that we're counting a 1/2 credit elective in Lit/Comp. It's on his transcript as "Greek and Roman Mythology", and I have a separate Course Descriptions file that has a paragraph and list of resources on each course.

 

It's the same as if we used Great Courses DVDs. I'm still the teacher, and I determine assignments and grades, so the credit comes from me.

[Candid]

 

That's where I'm confused. On the transcript under History you'd put "Coursera - A History of the World Since 1300" and the number of credits?

 

From the Terms of Service(emphasis mine): "You acknowledge that the Letter of Completion, and Coursera’s Online Courses, will not stand in the place of a course taken at an accredited institution, and do not convey academic credit. You acknowledge that neither the instructors of any Online Course nor the associated Participating Institutions will be involved in any attempts to get the course recognized by any educational or accredited institution."

 

Effectively, using the courses for credit is not allowed so why do they offer certificates? Homeschooling lets the parent decide the curriculum used and how many credits it is worth on a transcript, and Coursera courses seem like cool resources used as curriculum for high school credit but do the people evaluating the transcript ask for proof of completion?

 

 

I think you are misunderstanding the purpose of this clause in the terms of service.

 

It is not to keep you from using this as a credit, but to keep you from suing Coursera when your college won't accept it as a credit. Further, they won't help you to get credit which I suspect might be consider a legal obligation if they didn't include this.

 

Further, I'm pretty sure that they are talking about college credit not high school here as well. As others have said, as the person in charge of your school you can count whatever you want as credit.

[regentrude]

My ps transcript of course didn't list course descriptions. Do homeschool transcripts have a different format to list curriculum used?

 

 

The transcript does not have course descriptions. But many homeschooling parents choose to provide an extra set of course descriptions to the colleges to give more information about their homeschool. that is where information about materials used and topics covered in the course would be listed.

[Brenda in MA]

This is interesting. My ps transcript of course didn't list course descriptions. Do homeschool transcripts have a different format to list curriculum used?

 

There is no standard answer. A lot of folks here make up a standard transcript and then include with it a course description document. Others have had their dc apply to college with just a homeschool transcript listing course titles and have been fine.

 

The most important thing to find out when making up a homeschool transcript is what the college is looking for. When my son applied to college several years ago, a couple of the colleges specifically asked for a list of the books he had used and how his science courses were taught (he was applying in a STEM area). To satisfy this requirement, I made up a course description document that listed each course that was on his high school transcript with a 3-4 sentence description of what was covered and a list of books/materials used. I attached this 8 page course description document with my son's transcript. If I had used something like Coursera, I would have listed that under the description of that particular course.

 

Some folks seem to think it's unfair that homeschoolers often have to submit more documentation. I actually think it's a benefit because it gives you (as counselor) the chance to explain what the student studied and to emphasize any unique approaches. This level of detail can make a student stand out. I also think's it reasonable for a college to wonder exactly what my student did in a course that I called "English 9" -- there is so much variation among schools.

 

I realize that brick & mortar schools generally don't include course descriptions with their transcripts, but the colleges receiving the transcripts are typically familiar with previous applicants from those high schools and how they do at the college, so the specific contents of that school's "English 9" aren't so critical. The college just knows that historically, students from that high school with certain grades & test scores have been successful at their college, so they expect that the current applicant will also be successful if he/she has the same grades & scores. Unless you have several siblings attending the same college, the college has no historical performance basis with which to judge a student from your homeschool.

 

HTH,

Brenda