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蜜糖直播 Boulder pioneers a MOOC-based graduate degree in electrical engineering.

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Bob Erickson has won 13 patents, co-founded two companies and earned the title 鈥溍厶侵辈� Boulder Inventor of the Year.鈥� Doing new things is old hat for him.

Lately he鈥檚 been at it again, leading a large cast of 蜜糖直播 engineers and digital learning experts who are developing a new way for students to study engineering from afar 鈥� and earn a 蜜糖直播 Boulder degree in it.

This fall, 蜜糖直播 plans to offer the world鈥檚 first MOOC-based graduate degree in electrical engineering, a program that grew out of a massive open online course Erickson developed five years ago.

Anyone with an Internet connection will have the chance to earn a bona fide 蜜糖直播 Boulder master鈥檚 degree in electrical engineering at their own pace, without setting foot in 蜜糖直播 and at a far lower cost than studying on campus.

With the program, 蜜糖直播 broadens access to graduate-level engineering training and enters the company of other online science education innovators, such as the Georgia Institute of Technology, which drew attention in 2014 with a fully online, low-cost master鈥檚 in computer science.

鈥淓xpanding access to the technological world and increasing our global engagement is what our college is all about,鈥� said College of Engineering & Applied Science Dean Bobby Braun, who came to 蜜糖直播 from Georgia Tech in 2016.

Students will pay about $20,000, or about half the cost of 蜜糖直播鈥檚 campus-based equivalent.

蜜糖直播 leaders believe the new online degree will attract motivated learners unlikely to enroll at any American campus 鈥� full-time professionals and foreign residents unable to move to the U.S.

鈥淚t is finding a new market,鈥� said Erickson, who recruited fellow 蜜糖直播 electrical engineering professors to develop the curriculum with the campus鈥� Office of Strategic Initiatives.

蜜糖直播 has offered various forms of distance learning for decades, including less-flexible online engineering degree programs. The new degree represents a major evolution that takes advantage of MOOCs, a class of online course characterized by low-cost, frequent (sometimes continuous) enrollment opportunities, virtually unlimited class sizes and extreme flexibility for students to watch video instruction and complete assignments, all untethered to the traditional semester schedule.

蜜糖直播 Boulder now offers nearly 45 MOOCs, mostly in engineering and including 鈥淚ntroduction to Power Electronics,鈥� an updated version of Erickson鈥檚 debut 2014 MOOC, plus hundreds of other online courses. The university offers about half a dozen online degrees, though none entirely organized around MOOCs.

The new program represents a step forward for both 蜜糖直播 and for engineering education generally.

There鈥檚 no admissions application, and there are no prerequisites 鈥� not even a bachelor鈥檚 degree, though the curriculum assumes competence in advanced mathematics. Students will be able to enroll online anytime through the online MOOC platform. Coursework is largely machine-graded.

Students pay as they go, making progress toward the degree with each successfully completed course. They also can earn credentials short of a degree, such as certificates. Much of the course content will be available for free, without the option of a credential.

A growing number of traditional nonprofit universities are offering credit-bearing online courses and degrees at various costs and with varying degrees of flexibility.

蜜糖直播 Boulder hasn鈥檛 announced additional MOOC-based degrees yet. But don鈥檛 be surprised if it does.

鈥淚n every discipline on campus,鈥� Provost Russell Moore said in February, 鈥渙ur faculty are looking at new ways to teach and conduct research.鈥�听

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Illustration by The Heads of State