MIT is doing it right!

MIT is offering a fast track to the Master’s program. It just happens to be in NORC’s content space. Here is how the system works:

You take 5 online courses:

                Principles of Microeconomics

                The Challenges of Global Poverty

                Data Analysis for Social Scientists

                Foundations of Development Policy: Advanced Development

                Designing and Running Randomized Evaluations

Pass a proctored exam for each course at a testing facility around the world.

Earn a MicroMaster credential from MITx (from the best I can tell, this is a certificate of completion).

What makes this different is the on-ramp to the new blended Master’s degree of Data, Economics, and Development Policy program. This places people in a category of earning a Master’s degree in 2 sessions (spring and summer) of attending MIT on campus if accepted. It is the new testing process they are evaluating over standardized tests (ACT, SAT, GRE) and a faster path to a career. Personally, I think it is brilliant. I wrote up something similar to this and my academic friends all said that the colleges wouldn’t go for it for the loss of income.