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Three years after the word "MOOC" first sent shivers up the spines of university presidents, who feared that massive online open courses would do away with traditional education, the vaunted 鈥榬evolution鈥� has failed to arrive, according to many critics,聽.听

鈥淗ere鈥檚 what will truly change higher education: ,鈥� the New America Foundation鈥檚 Kevin Carey challenged digital learning providers this spring in The New York Times, highlighting the limited usefulness of classes without formal certifications.听

Someone was listening. On Wednesday, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology unveiled 聽program that may revive hope in technology鈥檚 potential to transform higher ed, providing a broader array of talented students with life-changing opportunities at a cost that鈥檚 lower for schools and students alike.听

Beginning in February, top students who take a semester of online Supply Chain Management (SCM) courses will be invited to apply for a second semester on-campus, earning a master鈥檚 degree.

In what鈥檚 being called 鈥渋nverted admission,鈥� the plan gives students a chance to test out what MIT has to offer before committing their time and money to a degree 鈥� and vice versa.

It鈥檚 not a free ride by any means: the on-campus semester charges typical tuition, around $33,000, and the online courses themselves, plus proctored exams, come to $1500. But compared to a year at full cost, it presents a novel way for both students and administration to affordably increase their opportunities.

鈥淭he most important thing is to ,鈥� university President L. Rafael Reif told the Boston Globe.

Not everyone will make the cut. In its pilot year, at least, there is only room for 40. But for the same $1500, students who keep up their grades in class and exams can still receive a so-called 鈥淢icroMaster credential鈥� in SCM. And for the merely curious (or less academically inclined) who aren't seeking credentials, the class is free, and anyone may sign up for courses regardless of their goals or abilities.

Not everyone wants to study supply chain management, which program leader described on Twitter as making sure 鈥渟upermarket chains are full, hospitals have supplies and factories get the parts needed to make a product.鈥� But universities and degree-seekers around the world will want to pay attention to MIT鈥檚 bold move, which could signal the next big shift in digital education 鈥� and, eventually, in-your-seat, face-to-face learning as well.

鈥淚鈥檇 rather than be disrupted by somebody else,鈥� Mr. Reif told Inside Higher Ed, using one of tech鈥檚 favorite buzzwords.

The major 鈥榙isruption鈥� here isn鈥檛 online learning, or even the MOOC model, which a Harvard-MIT edX partnership helped popularize in 2012. A variety of other universities have also experimented with some sort of inverted admission, but never has a school of MIT鈥檚 prestige offered the possibility of a degree.

Skepticism persists about , particularly given its record of聽minuscule聽completion rates. But Mr. Carey believes the聽real blame for MOOCs not yet delivering on their transformative potential belongs to universities themselves.

Colleges can offer all the lifelong learning they want, but so long as schools weren鈥檛 students still needed to trade ever-rising in-person tuition dollars for a job credential, he pointed out in The New York Times.听

That makes MIT鈥檚 approach seem pretty noble: finally, a more affordable way to get the same high-caliber degree, no matter your academic record, so long as you can prove your mettle.

But don鈥檛 hold out hope for an MIT diploma earned entirely from your couch. The , according to the Boston Globe.