Nanodegrees could lead MOOC's to ultimately disrupt higher education
Nanodegrees from Udacity, microdegrees from Coursera, and other programs like them are more and more being seen as game-changers in higher education.
The accelerated certificate programs create their curricula in conjunction with employers to offer a course that directly readies students for jobs waiting in industries increasingly open to hiring employees without degrees. In many cases, the mini degree programs attract university-educated students looking for a career change, however some students are starting to look at them while getting a traditional degree, or instead of going to university entirely.
Online Learning

How Nanodegrees Are Disrupting Higher Education

New "micro" online certification programs are changing the educational pathways to success in certain industries.

Udacity created quite a buzz at the annual Google I/O conference this year when the for-profit online education provider unveiled its new Android Developer Nanodegree program. Created in close cooperation with Google, which owns the popular mobile operating system, the program is designed to provide software developers with the skills they need to build Android applications and a credential to prove to potential employers that they have those skills. Udacity later made the headline-grabbing announcement that it will refund half the tuition ($200 per month) for students completing the program in 12 months.

The Android nanodegree is the sixth member of Udacity's young lineup of industry-led, career-oriented, online certification programs, but it's not surprising that the launch of this one would draw so much attention. There are about a billion active Android users worldwide, and consequently, something approaching urgent demand for Android developers. But this high-profile launch also raises again the question of where these kinds of programs fit in the post-secondary educational landscape, and whether such focused learning programs might finally emerge as a disruptive force in higher education.

Udacity has trademarked the term "nanodegree," but the concept of an institution-agnostic microcredential isn't new and the company isn't the only cutting-edge provider — it's not even the first to work directly with Google. Earlier this year, Coursera announced partnerships with Google, Instagram and others to provide a series of "microdegrees."

"Certificates have been around for a long time," said Alexander Halavais, associate professor in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Arizona State University, "offered either on the industry/trade side, or in conjunction with university extension programs. In fact, the push of 'university extension' is well over a century old, and it was intended to break down some of the medieval structures of university education and make them more widely available."

But in a recent report, Stuart Butler, a senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC, pointed to the Udacity and Coursera certificate programs as examples of a trend that could result in "a radical shakeup of higher education." In particular, he wrote, the companies' partnerships with industry and potential employers could represent "a game-changer."

Udacity COO Vish Makhijani couldn't agree more. "That's what makes these programs different," he said. "For our Web Front-End Developer program, for example, we worked directly with AT&T, which was trying to hire a ton of entry-level front-end Web developers. They knew exactly what kind of person they needed, so we knew exactly how to build a curriculum to generate those competencies. For the Data Analyst program, we worked with industry innovators dealing with big data, companies like Facebook, Twitter and MongoDB. Google spent thousands of hours working with us to develop the Android program; we worked directly with the source."

Makhijani said partnering with potential employers effectively answers what was considered a critical question raised by the advent of massive open online courses (MOOCs): Will employers take these certifications seriously? The challenge to providers of online micro-certifications, he said, is twofold: earning the trust of students and maintaining a relevant curriculum.