Massive open online courses are growing in popularity with students in the U.S. and around the world, but with this growth comes restrictions, namely for international students.
Some colleges and universities offer free open-course classes, called MOOCs, as course options for enrolled students. But according to a press release from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, students with a full-time student visa may only count a single three-credit course per semester. However, anyone is free to take a MOOC class and not receive credit.
Andy McCollough, associate provost of UF and interim director of UF Online, said although MOOCs like those UF offers on Coursera are free, students, including international students, do not get credit at UF for the classes they complete.
“You can’t get credit at this university, but they can help to accustom international students to the educational system of the U.S,” McCollough said.
This rule doesn’t affect UF’s other online education model, UF Online, which launched on Jan. 6. McCollough said the two programs are different. UF Online students earn their degrees entirely online, he said.
Jo-Anne Carrenard, a 20-year-old UF journalism senior, has taken courses through Coursera.
She said everyone should have the option to receive credit for online classes because that would encourage more students to complete them.
The average rate of completion, McCollough said, is less than 10 percent.
“I signed up for a whole bunch of classes,” Carrenard said, “but I never had time to do them.”
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 5/15/2014 under the headline "International students limited in receiving credit for MOOCs"]
