Dive Brief:
- While the American Council on Education recommends nearly a dozen JumpCourse courses for college credit, critics say students don't need to learn course content to master them.
- Sociologist and longtime college administrator Daniel Sullivan wrote about JumpCourse’s downfalls after taking its intro to sociology course, and Inside Higher Ed followed up with its own test and review, finding a student can skip straight to practice tests, where they have multiple chances to answer questions correctly and can simply memorize test answers for a final exam.
- Adapt Courseware, creator of JumpCourse, defends this scenario, saying the course allows students to learn the way they prefer, whether it is by watching a video lecture, reading notes, or skipping straight to the practice tests.
Dive Insight:
Champions of the need for a liberal arts education say introductory courses give students high-level critical thinking skills and a broad range of knowledge that will allow them to succeed in many jobs. JumpCourse aims to complement traditional higher education, giving students a cheap, flexible alternative to fulfilling introductory course requirements. But if colleges follow the advice of ACE and grant credit for this coursework, students could graduate from a liberal arts program with only a portion of the skills they are meant to have. ACE is reviewing JumpCourse again through a Gates Foundation Grant initiative that is meant to expand access to alternative credit. Inside Higher Ed reports that the evaluation rubric will be online along with results by this fall.