The matrimony of innovative online course programmer Udacity and San Jose State University is going so well that the partners are offering for-credit summer classes to 10 times as many students per class.

"So far, so good," said spokesperson Clarissa Shen, proverb that the summer classes are considered an extension of the spring pilot, which offered three math classes, including Statistics. Based on the upshot of the summertime programme, Silicon Valley-based Udacity and San Jose State volition decide in the autumn whether to make the courses part of the university's regular offerings. Udacity and the university chose courses that are in high need, with look lists, and feedback from students has been positive, Shen said.

"Forty pct of the students who responded to a survey said Udacity was their simply option to take the form," she said. "Nosotros're reaching an underserved market."

Sebastian Thrun, a research professor of computer science at Stanford and a member of the National Academy of Engineering, is one of the instructors of the Udacity statistics course.

Sebastian Thrun, a research professor of estimator science at Stanford and a member of the National Academy of Engineering, is one of the instructors of the Udacity statistics class.

Gov. Jerry Brown, who attended the initial launch of the partnership in January, has touted using technology as a way to keep tuition costs down and offer high-need courses to students, making it easier for them to graduate earlier and reducing the demand for student loans. His current upkeep proposal has set up aside $xvi.9 one thousand thousand for the community colleges to utilise technology to develop online courses.

Critics of online courses signal to high dropout rates, often as high every bit 95 percent. Udacity, which started pocket-sized with merely 100 students per course, has had more success, Shen said. She pointed to Udacity's Statistics form, which has retained 85 percent of its students through midterm exams. Most of the dropouts occurred early on on, she said.

This summer Udacity will add Introduction to Programming and Introduction to Psychology to its three math classes. The cost will remain at $150 for the credit courses that are accepted past the California Country Academy organization and most major U.Southward. universities, co-ordinate to Shen. The normal cost of a CSU course is about $450, with the state subsidizing another $450.

However, the summer courses will be offered to 1,000 students instead of 100. Unlike many online courses, faculty at Udacity and San Jose State University provide regular feedback to the students, quickly answering their questions. In the start three math courses in the spring airplane pilot, the faculty realized early on that they needed to do much more direct outreach to students than simple online chats, as they noticed that some students were non keeping up. They started past emailing students, but that turned out to not exist effective. Next they sent text messages, which fared ameliorate. In cases where the student was actually lagging, the instructor would telephone the student and set progress goals.

Katie Kormanik, who works for Udacity and, with San Jose State professors, teaches the Statistics form, said right now it is easy to keep upward with student questions because she doesn't go that many. "There will definitely be bumps in the road with more students because at that place will be many more questions," she said.

The academy professors and Udacity instructors make the lesson plans and also review the exam answers to exist sure the automatic grading system is accurate. "That's a potential problem when the grade scales," Kormanik said. "This summer is a big step."

Shen said Udacity is open to offering the courses throughout the CSU system, but but if they can have like agreements with other campuses as they have with San Jose Country.

"We believe in high quality and working closely with the academy partners," she said. "Nosotros are taking a slower approach to that."

Shen also expects to exist able to scale the course then that the tuition costs can remain low. Currently the San Jose State instructor salaries are beingness paid through academy funds. "We believe strongly that accessibility is tied to affordability," she said.

Registration for the courses opened on Apr xvi. Students who practise non go to San Jose Land can annals through Udacity.com.

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