In April of 2020, the University of Michigan’s Center for Academic Innovation (CAI) and Coursera announced a partnership to build three new MasterTrack programs. The Coursera-hosted Social Work MasterTrack proved to be a successful pathway for learners seeking to transition to the accelerated version of the MSW degree program and helped the School of Social Work reach new audiences for their online program. The development of the MOOC and Social Work MasterTrack was part of the University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation’s ongoing investments in the development of programs that increase access to high-quality learning experiences at scale through flexible and stackable learning.
The School of Social Work engaged in the process of developing the MOOC, certificate, and online degree program to expand access to its top-ranked, licensed Master of Social Work degree program. Existing students and competitive pressure from other peer higher education institutions helped drive the interest on the part of the program faculty and school leadership. Providing access to those who could not relocate or travel to Ann Arbor for the MSW program was aligned closely with the school’s strategic goals for increasing access and affordability as well as the School of Social Work’s diversity, equity, and inclusion goals across all programs.
The University of Michigan’s School of Social Work (SSW) first implemented a MOOC on the edX platform as “an intervention for preparing students for graduate school” (Richards-Schuster et al. 2019). Building on this implementation, the School of Social Work subsequently developed an edX MicroMasters Certificate in 2017 that combined with a comprehensive exam and other program entrance requirements provided a pathway into the Master of Social Work (MSW) program. This MicroMasters Certificate yielded 12 student enrollments into the MSW program as of Spring 2020. At the time of the development of the Social Work MasterTrack, the following goals were articulated by the School of Social Work:
Strategic Goals:
Increase access and diversity of the MSW student population
Provide an online part-time program to match competitor offerings
Meet student demand for an online degree option
Increase the affordability of the program for prospective students
Support continuing education for Social Work graduates
Support a path to certification for those working in social services.
Tactical Goals:
Lower costs for part-time students
Subsidized tuition for part-time study (via internal scholarships)
Reduced credit hours for students via Social Work MasterTrack
Increase online enrollment to mitigate reduced enrollment risks
Increase marketing reach to new audiences via online partnership
Create materials that could be reused for residential courses
Work began designing and building the Social Work MasterTrack after Coursera announced the new MasterTrack product in April 2020. The Center for Academic Innovation design team built the courses in consultation with the School of Social Work Learning Experience Designer. Barb Hiltz, the faculty lead, developed consistency guidelines for the certificate program, which included course structure, outcome alignment, assignment structures, course sequence, synchronous session purposes, media use, grading policies, and competency assessment for online MSW program continuation.
The new Coursera MasterTrack platform embedded high-touch engagement features, allowing learners to interact with peers in a certificate program cohort and instructors via two synchronous meetings during each two-month course run. This cohort structure was desirable as the School of Social Work aimed to monitor and support student movement through the certificate courses for MSW program admission. Learning assessments from both the edX MicroMasters version of the courses and a School of Social Work exam were integrated into the course design, eliminating a previous requirement of a separate comprehensive exam prior to admission. In addition to the Social Work MasterTrack, there is a 45-credit-hour online version of the MSW degree program (reduced from 60 credit hours). Students admitted to the MSW program after completing the MasterTrack were placed in a required first-semester course (SSW 718: MasterTrack Skills Lab) for all MSW program entrants via the MasterTrack pathway. This course allowed students to revisit MasterTrack concepts with peers and provided another way to verify the learning outcomes of students in the program.
Coursera provided the infrastructure and delivery platform for the MOOC and Social Work MasterTrack courses. This infrastructure included student recruitment, marketing, enrollment management, payment processing, and ongoing on-platform learner support. CAI provided ongoing program management support for the School of Social Work and served as a liaison to Coursera on MasterTrack and MOOC-related operational topics. CAI and Coursera held bi-weekly program management meetings to discuss topics related to MasterTrack operation and feature requests for the product. CAI’s program managers held regular meetings with the academic units to discuss operational and logistical challenges to the program operation throughout the duration of the MasterTrack program. Responsibilities for roles related to the delivery of the program were mapped across Coursera, CAI, and the School of Social Work. In addition to the platform delivery provided by Coursera, CAI assigned a program operations specialist to assist with support requests that were beyond the scope of Coursera’s platform. Social Work hired a student services position to help with student advising related to the MasterTrack and MSW program. Audits for degree completion were conducted by Coursera and verified by CAI staff at the end of each two-month course run.
Implementing the pathway from a MOOC to the School of Social Work MasterTrack on an external platform required working through challenges that required close partnership between the School of Social Work, the Center for Academic Innovation, and Coursera. Weekly meetings were held between the School of Social Work and CAI, bi-weekly meetings between Coursera and CAI, as well as weekly course design meetings during the development of the Social Work MasterTrack courses. Over the lifecycle of the MasterTrack, some key challenges emerged, including: 1) adapting the platform for a cohort-based program 2) developing effective learner communication for the multiple learner profiles, 3) establishing roles and responsibilities with the distributed nature of program operation, and 4) building reporting and tracking mechanisms for learners who had affirmatively applied for the degree program. Creating a cohort-based, sequential learning experience on a platform that was originally designed for self-paced individual learning requires careful planning of course activities and requires the consideration of the affordances of the platform.
Early in the program delivery, we encountered challenges with ensuring peer review assignments were completed during course runs. Adjustments were made with respect to the placement of the assignments within the course schedules and a process was developed to allow for review of the peer review assignments by Social Work outside of the window if needed. Learners who entered the program after applying to the MSW online degree program were required to stay on track with course completion to ensure eligibility for admission to the MSW program in their target semester. The need for tracking and monitoring of students and targeted communication for those learners required multiple strategies and the development of on-platform tools that allowed for auditing of student progress while in the Social Work MasterTrack. The cohort model of the program runs counter to the traditional design philosophy of a Massive Open Online Course and requires ongoing engagement and dialogue to build out processes and systems to support the program. Coursera has worked closely with the University of Michigan on the development and refinement of reporting and tracking capabilities needed to support the learners as they make their journey through the learning experience. Messaging on the Coursera platform (both within courses and on the external marketing page) was regularly updated and aligned with the School of Social Work website and the Center for Academic Innovation’s Michigan Online platform. Building out communication structures and communication channels for learners to meet the diverse interests of the learner population and segmenting communication among groups presented challenges as learners completed courses at varying paces and learners enrolled in courses outside of the prescribed cohort sequences. CAI and Social Work collaborated on reporting processes to help the School of Social Work develop student progress tracking and the verification of the completion of the Social Work MasterTrack.
The free-to-enroll first course in the certificate program, Social Work Practice: Advocating Social Justice and Change, remains on the Coursera platform. This MOOC has had over 30,000 learners enroll, and over 5,000 learners have completed the course since its launch in 2020. Learner interest for the MasterTrack was strong, with 1,346 learners (net learners who persisted through the two-week refund window) who enrolled in the MasterTrack from the launch in 2020 to the last enrollment date in October 2024. Of the 1,346 learners who enrolled, 911 of the learners completed the certificate program. Of those who completed, 694 applied to either the online or residential MSW degree program (76%), and 631 (69%) matriculated into the MSW. The initial goals of admitting 25 students per term via the Social Work MasterTrack have been exceeded consistently since the May 2021 online program launch. The online version of the MSW program has yielded a consistently strong population of online students, and the program has met its enrollment goals consistently while maintaining a high level of selectivity. The majority of learners who completed the MasterTrack entry survey indicated that they were above the age of 24, which differs from the typical on-campus program enrollment age of 24 years and younger. In 2024, the School of Social Work began planning for transitioning the Social Work MasterTrack to a self-hosted Canvas LMS instance. The new certificate program, Social Work Essential Certificate, is structured similarly to the Social Work MasterTrack and was launched in January 2025.
The School of Social Work MasterTrack offered learners a low-cost pathway to the highly ranked Master of Social Work degree program. Its structure and cost reduction features likely contributed to the certificate program’s success. The open MOOC first course allowed for low or no-cost exploration, and at least one learner identified the MasterTrack as part of their career transition. Ongoing support and engagement between Coursera, CAI, and the School of Social Work were crucial, bridging the open to non-credit to for-credit journey of learners. This partnership was successful due to shared commitment to serving students, overcoming logistical challenges through persistence and creativity. More research is needed to understand the motivating factors for learners who persisted from the MOOC to the degree and those who completed the MasterTrack but did not pursue the MSW program. Key success factors included the close integration of the MasterTrack curriculum with the School of Social Work’s degree program, the cohort-focused structure, faculty engagement, and the low cost of the high-quality certificate program. This certificate’s pre-degree program positioning aligns with prior efforts at other institutions implementing graduate transition certificates in technical subjects. The School of Social Work’s entry into an entirely online MSW degree program in 2021 involved developing the MOOC and Social Work MasterTrack. Lessons learned informed the University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation’s ongoing investments in programs that increase access to high-quality learning experiences at scale through flexible and stackable learning.
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