As a nonprofit, we constantly ask ourselves how to provide more value for our students, because that is at the core of our open education mission: we want to help students by reducing barriers to entry, to access, and to strong returns on their learning.

In part, we do this simply by providing free college and professional courses paired with innovative certificates built by Accredible. Students’ learning goes on their resumes and the evidence for what they know and are able to do — essays, business plans, quiz grades, projects, Java programs, etc. — is attached to their Accredible certificates.

Free courses and free certificates meet the needs of many around the world, while others are looking for just a bit more. To respond to that additional demand, we work with schools, businesses, and other organizations to create college credit and other credentialing opportunities.

That network of partners and collaborators grows ever stronger!

We have just announced our participation in the Alternative Credit Project™, which connects students of free and affordable online learning to guaranteed college credit at dozens of colleges and universities.

We have expanded the number of our credit-recommended courses from three to nine to eleven to seventeen. Those courses have guaranteed transfer to fifteen schools that have partnered directly with Saylor Academy and likely transfer to hundreds more across the United States.

Here are some other partnerships worth celebrating:

• We have built an innovative “Open ASBA” program with partner school Thomas Edison State College (an online-only public college in New Jersey) that allows students to earn their Associate’s Degree in Business Administration on their own time and with substantial cost savings.
• Through a program of the nonprofit Haitian Connection Network, students learn with Saylor Academy courses, among others, working toward job placements where their new knowledge and skills can be immediately deployed.
• In the exciting Finish Line program at the University of Memphis, students who have left school without a diploma, typically for financial reasons, return to their alma mater to finish their degree with free and affordable courses, including nine free, open online courses from Saylor Academy.
• The Adamjee Life Academy, a program of the Adamjee Life Assurance company in Pakistan, promotes employee development and career advancement with over a dozen Saylor Academy courses.

Image credits: “university” icon by Gerald Wildmoser; “Mortarboard” icon by Michael Zenaty; “Handshake” icon by Pavel Pavlov; “Briefcase” icon by Christopher Smith; “Buildings” icon by Marek Polakovic; “group” icon by Martha Ormiston; all CC BY 3.0 via the Noun Project.