Well, Mike, this may be a case of the "pot calling the kettle black". The certification from Coursera also insures that the quizzes and/or homework is done and then an invigulated exam. Isn't that what happens in our undergrad courses??  The coverage on Coursera courses is likely less than ours, but most of their courses run less than the North American standrd of 13 weeks, 3 credits, so they should be less.

Who you calling a pot? :-) I'm just saying, doing it is not the same as being recognized for it. AU had to do a lot of other things, (AU press, etc.,) in order to raise its profile in the university scene. And just because a university like Harvard is behind the ball doesn't mean it will automatically be accepted. LIke the dollar coin you have in your pocket ultimately we all have to agree that the coursera "signature" is a valid indicator. I think the dicussions between Mooc, xMooc, cMooc indicate that there isn't a lot of agrement on whether a mooc offers a credential of the type we might consider valid. A lot of things go into creating a valid credential right?

just thoughts on this early monday morning looking out at the snow and fighting weather related negativity

There has not been any indication of signature tracking in the Surviving Disruptive Technologies Course. As far as I can see. I wonder if it will come up before the first assignment?

Here is another link about a student experiencing a MOOC.  Much in common with what our self-paced undergraduates tell us.

http://www.heqco.ca/en-CA/blog/archive/2013/4/18/lauren-hudak-the-dog-ate-my-homework.aspx