ASU to offer FREE 15-credit certificate in Global Management & Entrepreneurship

Yeah - you wonder if they're talking "globe" or "glob"...
Globinar - sounds like a new blood-clot medication from a hematologist...

 

I've signed up for it and also plan to attend the globinar at 6:00 am CST on March 2nd. I hope it is not a whole bunch of hype and will grant some type of benefit even though anything that is free as far as lifelong learning is worth the certificate or diploma regardless of the credit or CEUs earned. I can't pass up the opportunity for free graduate credits though.

 

Hmm... That is just about the ONLY thing at UoPeople that sparks any significant number of complaints.

 

Maybe it'll be mostly/entirely exams.

 

Good idea. 100 million online students writing exams? Some boom years for proctoring outfits!

 

ASU uses RPNow for most of its courses. However, its upper-level CS courses appear not to need any proctoring at all.

 

Maybe Pearson-Vue centres could handle the testing, along with their many tech qualifications. They're geared to secure testing of high numbers of credential applicants - in 180 countries. Just a thought...

 

It is, for sure, as we were advised earlier. Francis and Dionne Najafi are the generous people who donated $25 Million to ASU's Thunderbird School of Global Management that got the ball rolling. Pic etc. here:

https://www.arizonafoothillsmagazine.com/features/az-giving/11300-francis-and-dionne-najafi-donate-25-million-to-asus-thunderbird-school-of-global-management.html

Cheers (and thanks) to Francis and Dionne Najafi.

More cheers for the great name of ASU's Management School. Always like to see a beautiful Native American concept used in such an inspiring way!

 

There certainly is. Then cheers to the originators of Thunderbird U. - and cheers to ASU for keeping the name.

 

Reading between the lines, it sounds like it will follow what Coursera does (at least somewhat). Rather than taking a course and here are your credits so noted on your transcript you are completing, essentially, a MOOC. And for each MOOC you get a badge. And when you get all of the badges then you get the credits.

So they're probably not doing anything wildly different. Probably just building off of the infrastructure that schools use for MOOCs. But, you know, this whole 100M thing is pretty good marketing (and a great opportunity for a lot of people).

 

Sounds like the courses will be graded more on a pass or fail system if they go this route. You receive graduate credit and a certificate with no GPA.

 

Could be. And of course this means that the credits would have limited transferability. Within Thunderbird it is no problem. But if anyone is thinking they can take this and parlay it into a Masters elsewhere it may dash those hopes.

All that said...free credits and a certainly worthwhile credential all on its own.

 

I'm more into imagining your neighbours hearing you. Now that's real fun!

 

The way ASU will make money off this is issuing the graduate credits even though Thunderbird is offering this program for free. The partnership with ASU will allow them on the back end to earn money off of the prior learning assessment of credits from ASU. The program is likely free but I'm sure ASU won't be printing free diplomas from this. This is very similar to the types of arrangements we see with Azteca, UCN, Universidad Isabel I, and other foreign universities in terms of having an accredited university award degrees or credits based off of work done outside of the university's traditional scope through partnerships with outside educational corporations.

I would still complete it and maybe get the certificate from ASU if the credits are graded. I'm sure it would be a credential one would need to pay a thousand or so for.

 

I haven't seen another school require a portfolio assessment for their own coursework but I haven't really examined the MOOC model closely.

ASU can monetize it quite well just by enrolling students they otherwise would not have enrolled. Let's say this program sees 500,000 new certificate graduates total. The rest all fall away and they never hit 100M. Of those 500,000, the expenses around whom were covered by a philanthropic gift, it wouldn't really be unreasonable to think that they'll see, let's be very conservative and say 10,000 students stay on for a Masters. That may not sound like a lot, but 10,000 students to a traditional graduate school is a massive number of students. That would be roughly a 50% increase in ASU's graduate enrollment. Nickel and diming people over the certificate may help defer some administrative costs, I suppose, but the money maker is on a 50% increase in enrollment with those students paying the ample price tag for a Masters.

As for cost...

There is no way this credential is one you'd pay "a thousand or so" for. Non-credit certificates at more prestigious schools are running north of $2,500. Assuming fully graded, this is a market value of at least $7k. Non-graded, you're still looking at $3 - $5k just based on your next best alternative.