A presentation given by Excelsior College President John Ebersole at World OER Congress in Paris, France in June 2012 on how open educational resources can be used toward a degree by pairing it with assessments such as Excelsior College Examinations (ECE).
Crossing the Chasm: A Bridge Between Content and Credential
1. CROSSING THE CHASM:
A BRIDGE BETWEEN CONTENT
AND CREDENTIAL
A Presentation to
The 2012 World OER Congress
June 20 – 22, 2012
Presenter: John F. Ebersole
President
Excelsior College
Albany, NY
3. ONE RESPONSE
Assess prior work
Match accepted work against approved
degree requirements
Independent study using vetted OER
materials
Completion of nationally normed
assessments
Capstone online course
4. ELEMENTS OF QUALITY
Faculty vetted OER
Assessments created by a national board of
subject matter experts and PhD
psychometricians
All assessments administered at secure facilities
by a third-party
Required completion of same capstone course as
for instructional students (must display
knowledge/skill expected of degree holder)
5. COST FACTOR
All content = free
Assessments = $150 - $200* (usually 3 units of
credit)
Annual fees which cover
- Advising
- Tutorial support
- Library access
Tuition for capstone (4 units) = approximately
$1,500
6. COST COMPARISON
Courses required for bachelors degree = 40
(x 3 units for each = 120)
Tuition for Instructional Model = (120 x $355) or
$42,600
Costs for Assessment Model (assumes no credit
in transfer and a need for all 120 units to
complete) = $10,000 or less
7. ROLE OF FACULTY
Map existing assessments to vetted OER
Create new assessments
Present and evaluate capstone courses
Monitor tutoring and tracking learning
outcomes
8. FUTURE PLANS
Introduce a bachelors of business (July)
Develop assessments for the MIT
curriculum in electrical engineering (Sept)
Create interactive simulations to assess
decision making and content integration