Arizona State University and online learning platform
edX are working together to offer massive open online courses (MOOCs) to cover
an entire freshman curriculum.
The Global Freshman Academy will launch this fall with three courses. Those will be increased by two
courses per semester until reaching a full 12-course catalog.
Students will be able to participate in the classes for
free, but required to pay a $45 identity-verification fee to gain credit. Students
will be able to take proctored exams for credits,
which will cost $200 each. The estimated cost to students in the program will
be around $6,000 for a full year’s tuition.
The fees fund administrative services, including
transcription assistance. ASU plans to add details in course descriptions about
which classes will be helpful for certain majors.
“It is in our minds to eventually reduce tuition,” said
Adrian Sanier, chief academic technology officer at ASU. “Once we are running
at full volume, we believe we’ll be able to lower the cost to students.”