The media conglomerate Pearson today announced a partnership with Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana to provide online, self-paced courses that the company says will help Ivy Tech deal with student demand and overcrowding issues in required general education courses.
For Pearson, which already sells modules for instructor-led courses, the move represents a further step in the company’s strategy of inserting itself into virtually every area of e-learning short of full degree programs.
“We thought it was time for us to have a self-paced play that our partners could then plug into their institutions and get more students into higher education,” said Don Kilburn, the CEO of Pearson Learning Solutions.
Meanwhile, the partnership allows Ivy Tech to refer certain students to hands-off self-paced general education courses — which it does not currently offer — without building such courses itself.
» via Inside Higher Ed
‘The per-course price tag of $299 was set by Pearson “based on extensive research on per-credit costs around the nation” and a survey of students aimed at finding out “what they’d expect to pay for a self-paced three-credit course,” according to Susan Aspey, a company spokeswoman. StraighterLine, a company that offers online general education courses for credit through institutional partnerships and perhaps the nearest analog to Propero, offers courses for $99 per month, per course, plus a $39 registration fee.’
I just love Pearson! (sarcasm alert)
Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/04/19/pearson-partners-ivy-tech-self-paced-online-gen-ed-courses#ixzz1sa0nS4ao Inside Higher Ed
