Distance Learning

Excelsior Teams with Private Partner for Low-Cost Online Courses

• By Joshua Bolkan
• 06/28/16

Excelsior College has teamed with a private partner to create a low-cost alternative pathway to college credit.

The partnership, with Cengage Learning, is centered on a collection of self-paced digital courses featuring integrated diagnostics and formative assessments. The partnership will also feature a summative assessment created by the school's Center for Educational Measurement.

"The program, which will be delivered online via the Learning Objects Difference Engine platform, will initially focus on two degree pathways — an associate's in criminal justice, and an MBA, with plans to expand to other subjects and degrees in the near future," according to a news release. "Students will have access to each digital course and its college credit exam for one low price and, upon successful completion, will earn college credit from Excelsior College, for use towards a degree program at Excelsior or for transfer to any accredited institution accepting such transfer credit. This innovative, self-paced program will be open to anyone desiring a flexible and low cost way to earn college credits to enhance their skills and career opportunities."

"Excelsior has been providing credit-by-exam opportunities for over forty years," said Nurit Sonnenschein, general manager for the Center for Educational Measurement, in a prepared statement. "With this partnership, our students maintain the flexibility and low cost of a credit-by-exam program; but the marriage of the exam with the rich digital courseware developed by Cengage provides a level of pedagogy never yet offered and opens up the possibility of self-study to a much larger population. And the development of this product as a complete pathway to degree, rather than as individual course/exam electives, will be an exciting opportunity for so many prospective students who seek an alternative to online courses."