UC Irvine Free Online Math Offerings Get ACE Credit Approval

  • By Kevin Hudson
  • 02/07/13

University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine), has had its free online algebra and pre-calculus courses approved for credit by the by the American Council on Education (ACE).

The approval by ACE will enable students who successfully complete the courses and online proctored exams, offered via Coursera, to receive credits transferable to more than 2,000 colleges and universities.

The two courses, which began the last week of January, already have more than 80,000 students from around the world enrolled. Students range in age from eight- to more than 90-years-old, according to a university release.

In addition to the ACE approved algebra and pre-calculus courses, the following UC Irvine courses are available on Coursera:

Since its initial participation in OpenCourseWare more than a decade ago, UC Irvine has provided 90 individual courses online for free. The seven UC Irvine open courses currently on the Coursera platform have received more than 250,000 enrollments in one week.

The two math courses were created by UC Irvine mathematics lecturers Sarah Eichhorn, assistant vice chair of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Mathematics, and Rachel Cohen Lehman.

"My colleague and I are thrilled that students around the world have the opportunity to view math as a doable, beautiful, powerful tool," said Eichhorn in a release. "As educators at UC Irvine, it is exciting to be part of this online education milestone."

Founded in 1965, UC Irvine enrolls nearly 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students, while employing 1,100 faculty and 9,000 staff. UC Irvine contributes an annual economic impact of $4.2 billion as Orange County's largest employer.

Coursera is a social entrepreneurship company that partners with universities to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free, spanning the humanities, medicine, biology, social sciences, mathematics, business, computer science, and others.

For more information about UC Irvine, visit uci.edu. Learn more about Coursera at coursera.org. Go to acenet.edu for more information about ACE.

About the Author

Kevin Hudson is a freelance journalist based in Portland, Oregon. He can be reached at [email protected].

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