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MOOCs - Massive Open Online Courses

Over the past few years, a variety of services have emerged like these:

These services are known as MOOCs - Massive Open Online Courses

All of these services and resources are AWESOME!

While some MOOCs try to bridge towards offering their courses under "certificate" or various other pseudo-academic credit models, none are really replacing the tried-and-true real acadmic credit from a real academic college/university

MOOCs are kind of like libraries: they have lots of resources, and you can "go through a course" but really they lack the human interaction involved in conducting a real academic course.

If you have to complete Calculus I, you cannot really tell someone, "Hey, I went to Library and read some books on Calculus".

MOOCs are little bit better than just going to the library and checking out some books on calculus, but there is a reason other colleges and universities do not accept their "certificates" for transferrable credits.



 





Distance Calculus - Student Reviews

Samuel H.★★★★
Posted: Jun 2, 2021
Courses Completed: Linear Algebra
Nothing but praise for Dr. Curtis. He's an excellent professor who is very responsive and knowledgeable. I did this course at night while working full-time, and I often skyped him late in the evening with questions. He never took long to respond, regardless of when it was. I finished this course in about a month and a half, and I worked for it. For those looking for an easy A, this is not it. You will have to put in serious work, but you will come out of the course with a good understanding of the material, especially if you apply yourself throughout the entirety of the course.
Email: samuel.howell@g.fmarion.edu
Transferred Credits To: Francis Marion University
Allie★★★★★
Posted: May 17, 2025
Courses Completed: Calculus I
This Calculus class saved my life! I needed to take this class to be able to secure a spot in my grad school program, and this was perfect for me - super flexible to my schedule, the teaching was great, and the material was super clear.

I felt like I really learned Calculus and also really enjoyed it!
Anonymous★★★★
Posted: Jan 12, 2020
Courses Completed: Calculus I, Calculus II
I needed to brush up on my high school calculus and finally take Calc II before starting a graduate program that needed them as prereqs. This was perfect choice to fit in that summer. Got done at fast pace that I wanted and needed. Also had added bonus of one on one feedback and help when needed. Video lessons were better than many on campus instructors in large lecture settings. Recommend for anyone needing to satisfy prereqs at home institution.
Transferred Credits To: University of Michigan
Aiden B.★★★★★
Posted: Jul 29, 2026
Courses Completed: Calculus II, Multivariable Calculus, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra
After completing all the math offered by my highschool, I switched over to Roger Williams for Calculus II and onward. Overall, it has been a pretty great way to understand the topics online, with transferrable college credits. The exams are not terrible, and the courses cover the vast majority (if not all) of topics covered by traditional courses, with some unique ones added to. So far, I have taken four courses, with another one or two before I graduate.

The only problem with the course is the lack of pen and paper work. This shouldn't come as a crazy surprise with an online course, but there is not much emphasis on symbolic computation. Mathematica or other software does most of the heavy computation for you. The lectures usually show how to solve the problems through paper, but those skills are rarely put into practice. Literacy Sheets act as a way to do some of that (especially with the Calculus II & III course).

All in all, this isn't a huge issue. I just memorize and practice things like double integration, Laplace, ODE solving, matrix diagonalized form, row operations, etc. With a little outside work, this resolves itself. Without Roger WIlliams, I probably would not have been able to take any of these math courses in highschool.

So overall, a great choice for highschool advanced math, especially with transferrable credits.
Email: abarger@protonmail.com
Lucas L.★★★★★
Posted: Jun 25, 2026
Courses Completed: Multivariable Calculus
The professor as well as the TAs give great feedback when you need help with problems and the videos are great at explaining concepts. Return time on work is good and the work is not too much to handle.
Transferred Credits To: University of Wisconsin
Hari K.★★★★
Posted: Jun 24, 2026
Courses Completed: Linear Algebra
This course gives a perspective on Linear algebra that no traditional course does. I’d say i gained much more intuition for this subject from the DC course than my friends who took traditional courses elsewhere. As a cs major, this version of learning with visualization has helped me a lot in understand ML models. However the course doesn’t have videos for the last 2 chapers so i had to self learn with the mathematica notebooks. Response times are a little slow but since it’s a remote class, i guess it’s justified. Overall amazing course and definitely take this over traditional lin alg classes.
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