The question is, as MOOCs continue to grow in popularity and the "graduates" of these courses inevitably enter jobs that use these new skills, will the "certifi

The question is, as MOOCs continue to grow in popularity and the "graduates" of these courses inevitably enter jobs that use these new skills, will the "certificates" that these places offer come to have their own currency? In other words, will there come a time when a "degree" from Coursera showing proficiency in a relevant topic become more valuable than an actual degree from an accredited four-year institution? I think that this will happen. Slowly, but it will happen. Software companies will probably lead the way on this. If I were hiring someone for a developer position, I have to ask my self which I would rather see: - An online portfolio complete with GitHub resume of open source samples, blog posts demonstrating writing skills and competence, and a collection of certificates from Udacity, mitX, and Coursera. OR... - A degree from State Tech with transcripts showing an A in Data Structures, a B in databases, and an A in Operating Systems Obviously there won't be such a clean divide between the two for a long time, but it's always been my belief that software development especially (and engineering in general) are better served by a master-apprentice approach than a four year "liberal arts" approach. Seen this way, the rise in "online credentials" is most valuable as a way of selecting those who would most benefit from the intense time and money investment of a master of their field. As for general education, I do think it would be a shame to throw the baby out with the bathwater and end up with an entire generation of people who are really good at machine learning but never took a higher-level history course. So I'm thinking a good hybrid would be a two-year associates degree that covers the basics followed by self study online using MOOCs (perhaps combined with some kind of enlightened one or two year "work-study" program offered by companies like Google). I'm really just thinking out loud here, so this isn't some kind of formal proposal or argument. I'm just wondering what the most optimal "end game" is.