Using 'Great Courses' toward HS credit

[DarcyM]

If any of you have used Great Courses as a high school credit course or even as a supplement, I'd love to hear how you did it. 

 

The course I'm considering is The history of the US:

http://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/history-of-the-united-states-2nd-edition.html?pfm=UpsellSlider&pos=2&recloc=pdp

 

It has 84 (30min) lectures for a total of 42 hrs. So not enough alone to count as a full credit, but seems meaty enough for a 9th or 10th greater to use as a launch point.

 

How have you used Great Courses to work for you, how do you document it for HS?

 

Thank you for any insight and experiences.

[Pronghorn]

I have used them to supplement other materials.

[Jamee]

Great question!  I love the Great Courses, my kids not so much--although they're starting to learn the value.  We are currently working through the new Understanding Japan series which I plan to supplement with text and field trips.  The other thing I've started doing is using the lectures that go along with texts.  DS and I read Dante this summer and used the corresponding lectures. It really helped provide so much more background and explanation.  My hang-up now is how to credit them.

[DarcyM]

Great question!  I love the Great Courses, my kids not so much--although they're starting to learn the value.  We are currently working through the new Understanding Japan series which I plan to supplement with text and field trips.  The other thing I've started doing is using the lectures that go along with texts.  DS and I read Dante this summer and used the corresponding lectures. It really helped provide so much more background and explanation.  My hang-up now is how to credit them.

 

Yes - I'm not sure how to credit these either, although I think I'd like to pair it with a history text. (Ugh it's mid-August and I'm scrambling. Why have I procrastinated??)  :)

[DarcyM]

I have used them to supplement other materials.

 

 

I'd love if you could expand on this. ;)  If you've got time.

[DonHomeschool]

Darcy,

 

I am going to share my experience with Great Courses to see if it can help you decide what is best for your situation.  Last year, my daughter was in 9^th grade and I created a “syllabus†for her World History course.  I had the opportunity to purchase a few sets of used courses and was able to match several videos (from different courses offered by Great Courses) to a 32 chapter college textbook (it was a college textbook, but it was easy to read).  The syllabus consisted of the following: listen to the videos assigned to the chapter (99 videos for 32 chapters), review for a short quiz, and then take the quiz for that particular chapter (all in 127 days).  I initially estimated that she was going to take anywhere between 158-191 hours to complete, but she completed all 99 videos, read all 32 chapters, reviews and quizzes in 155 hours.

 

My daughter did well last year with this format that she dual-enrolled for two world history courses over the summer (between 9^th and 10^th grade); she obtained a solid A for the first part of world history and it seems that she is going to get another solid A for the second part of world history.  According to my daughter, even though world history is accelerated in college (especially over the summer), both courses were easy because of the format presented at home in the previous academic year.

 

For the upcoming year, I am planning to do the same (use History of the United States from Great Courses).  However, I am still searching for a college textbook that would be “an easy read,†then write the detailed course syllabus before her start date at the end of August.  The plan is to have her dual-enroll for both US history courses next summer to validate what I did at home.

 

I apologize for the long post, but I hope it helps with your decision.  Good luck to you and your son.

[swimmermom3]

I have used many Great Courses series over the years and they are usually a supplement, so I don't think of attaching a particular amount of credit to a series.

 

What I mean is that I know a particular series is part of what I need to cover for one year of credit in a particular topic.

 

For example, I've used part of Foundations of Western Civilization I and all of Foundations of Western Civilization II for AP European History, which covers 1450 to 2001. Advanced Placement classes have very specific requirements, so I know that there will be textbook readings, primary source work, and lots of written work answering different types of questions.  I will use History of the United States course the same way for our AP US History class this year. Those classes each receive one credit.

 

I will also be using How the Earth Works for part of ds's Natural Sciences Field studies course this year.  I know that I want to spend roughly half the year on Earth science and half on Marine biology along with some astronomy and botany.  The course follows a different sequence than my Earth science text, so I have adapted the readings. I am also using the Oceanography course.

 

Many, but not all of the Great Courses standard lectures follow a sequence that is similar to a college-level survey in that particular discipline. This makes it fairly easy to figure out how much credit to assign.

[MarkT]

you could try to derive from 

http://allinonehighschool.com/early-american-history/

 

and

 

http://allinonehighschool.com/modern-american-history/

 

 

[RootAnn]

FundaFunda has a syllabus integrating a couple of books, DVDs, Great Courses US History and other sources to make a well-rounded US History course. (Syllabus is free.)

 

I used it to help me design my own US History course (two years vs. one).

 

[yvonne]

The plan is to have her dual-enroll for both US history courses next summer to validate what I did at home.

 

Don,

 

If the DE courses are only to validate her study during the year, is there any reason you didn't have her take the SAT 2 subject exams instead?  It seems like so much work for her to work through a full course during the school year and then, essentially, redo similar study during the summer.  Maybe a DE grade carries more weight than an SAT 2 score?

 

Do you roll the self-study and the DE courses into a single credit on the transcript? 

 

I kind of assumed, in planning my own kids' courses, that self-study with a good SAT 2 score would say more about a student than a DE course. CC/DE courses vary widely in quality and amount of spoon feeding they do. On the other hand, a student has to have  stamina and self-discipline to self-study.  I don't know how admissions people see it, though.

 

Thanks,

yvonne

 

[swimmermom3]

Darcy, don't overthink it.  Pick a U.S. History text. Unless your students struggle with reading or have other learning challenges, I would probably stick with a college-level text from this list or maybe the one from K12, The American Odyssey.

 

I have several US History texts, but I will use Alan Brinkley's American History: A Survey, 12th edition to show you one possible way to plan. One way to figure out the pacing is to divide the number of pages by the number of weeks of class. Most publishers keep the number of pages per chapter roughly consistent, so for planning ease, I will plan on 34 weeks with one chapter per week as there are 34 chapters.

 

I look at the topics for Chapter 1:The Meeting of Cultures that are outlined in the detailed table of contents. This first chapter basically deals with what happened in what is now the United States prior to English colonization and then the first English settlement of Roanoke.

 

Now I look at the course guidebook that comes with the Great Courses The History of the United States and I decide that Lectures 1 and 2 work with what is covered in chapter 1, so my first week of school looks like this:

 

Week 1

Brinkley text - Chapter 1: The Meeting of Cultures, pp. 2-31

Lecture 1:  Living Bravely

Lecture 2: Spain, France, and the Netherlands

 

For Week 2, I see that chapter 2 is going to cover the early Chesapeake colonies, the growth of New England, the Restoration colonies, the founding of Georgia, and the evolution of the British Empire. Chapter 3 covers society and culture during this time period.

 

Week 2

Brinkley text - Chapter 2: Transplantations and Borderlands, pp. 32-62

Lecture 3: Gentlemen in the Wilderness (Virginia, Carolinas, Georgia)

Lecture 4: Radicals in the Wilderness (Puritans, Massachusetts Bay)

Lecture 5: Traders in the Wilderness (Dutch in New Netherland, Delaware, Pennsylvania

 

Not everything is going to line up perfectly. Lecture 6 covers slavery, which is discussed from different angles in both Chapter 2 and 3. A quick glance through the guidebook and textbook makes me think that Lecture 6 will line up better with Chapter 3. This will probably help me balance the workload a bit more evenly.

 

Your course descriptions are your documentation for what your student is doing in the class. You will have a brief description as well as a list of resources used, which would of course include the name of the Great Courses lecture series.

 

If I work through a few more chapters, it looks as though each week will involve about 30 pages of reading and 2-3 lectures. You will want to add some primary source work and maybe some other activities. If you want me to show a couple more weeks or a different textbook, I can do that. I can also show you some things to add into the week.

 

Finishing the textbook and the lecture series would be worth one high school credit.

[swimmermom3]

Don,

 

If the DE courses are only to validate her study during the year, is there any reason you didn't have her take the SAT 2 subject exams instead?  It seems like so much work for her to work through a full course during the school year and then, essentially, redo similar study during the summer.  Maybe a DE grade carries more weight than an SAT 2 score?

 

Do you roll the self-study and the DE courses into a single credit on the transcript? 

 

I kind of assumed, in planning my own kids' courses, that self-study with a good SAT 2 score would say more about a student than a DE course. CC/DE courses vary widely in quality and amount of spoon feeding they do. On the other hand, a student has to have  stamina and self-discipline to self-study.  I don't know how admissions people see it, though.

 

Thanks,

yvonne

 

 

Yvonne, my thought is that educational hours are valuable and there is much to be covered. I would DE or teach the class at home and take an AP or SAT 2 test if I felt like validation was needed, but I don't think I would do both.

 

[Pronghorn]

We tend to be informal, and my daughter learns best with multiple resources. For geology this year (grade 8), we used the book Geology, A Self-Teaching Guide (not recommended), which we supplemented with The World's Greatest Geological Wonders from The Great Courses (excellent). For 9th grade American History, we are doing Dave Raymond's American History supplemented with Turning Points in American History by The Great Courses. Sometimes I require note-taking and sometimes I don't. We also supplement with PBS videos sometimes too.

[DonHomeschool]

Yvonne,

 

Dual-enrolled courses are not “only†to validate my daughter’s study during the year.  There were a lot of variables that led to this decision; however, I truly appreciate your suggestion with the SAT 2 subject exams because it could work for many families.

 

To answer your question with credits earned (on the transcript), I show all of the courses taken at home and as a dual-enrolled student, but only give her one credit for the course.

[EKS]

I use them as supplements and list them in the supplement section in my course descriptions.

[SilverMoon]

.

Edited September 5, 2023 by SilverMoon

[Miss Mousie]

I am only a week into my first attempt at using one for high school, but I'll share the plan anyway. :p

 

I got the Western Civ Part 2 lectures by Dr. Bucholz from audible.com (based solely on Swimmermom3's high recommendation - and so far I can back her up on that!).  I am also using Spielvogel's Western Civ Part 2 (I'm sure that's not the exact title).

 

First, I went through the Spielvogel TOC and decided how many chapters I want to cover this year.  Then I went through the guide book TOC (available as a pdf online somewhere) and matched up lectures to chapters. 

 

The first 3 lectures are overview, so I am having DS listen to those first, and then probably late next week we'll crack Spielvogel and he'll listen to lecture 4 sometime during that chapter.

 

I will expect DS to take notes on both the lectures and the text, and periodically I will assign some sort of essay.  I don't plan to do any tests or quizzes.  We discuss as we go along.

 

So far, DS seems to enjoy Bucholz's lectures, but we'll see if that still sticks come February.  ;)  My only regret is that I can't join him in the listening.

 

[RootAnn]

Then I went through the guide book TOC (available as a pdf online somewhere) and matched up lectures to chapters. 

 

:hurray:   :drool5:  :thumbup1:  :w00t:

Because of your comment, I just found where Audible includes the PDF of the guidebook (on your account, under Library, look under the 'title' column for your purchase & there will be a PDF link). Thank you SO MUCH for mentioning this. This was the one negative, for me, in getting the Audible title vs. buying it (much more expensively - because I used an Audible credit) on the GC website. I missed that Guidebook tremendously! 

 

:svengo: So much less work ahead of me now that I have it.  :party:

[swimmermom3]

:hurray:   :drool5:  :thumbup1:  :w00t:

Because of your comment, I just found where Audible includes the PDF of the guidebook (on your account, under Library, look under the 'title' column for your purchase & there will be a PDF link). Thank you SO MUCH for mentioning this. This was the one negative, for me, in getting the Audible title vs. buying it (much more expensively - because I used an Audible credit) on the GC website. I missed that Guidebook tremendously! 

 

:svengo: So much less work ahead of me now that I have it.  :party:

 

Thank you so much! I just checked my Audible Library and there were those pdfs! I am so delighted.

 

[DarcyM]

Thank you so much, those of you who took the time to respond. I know planning is time consuming and high school has a whole different learning curve - so please know I am very grateful for the time you each gave me to respond so thoughtfully.

 

We've decided to use k12's The American Odyssey: A History of the United States as our spine and the Great Courses as a supplement and line up chapters as much as possible. He enjoys historical fiction so I'm hoping to multi-course some of his literature & comp work to be parallel. He's also doing an art / art history course and I'm going to also try and parallel a few art pieces if I can pull all of this together to at least get started by Sept 1. (He want to be a FineArt major and studio animation & movie making)  

 

I think between the spine, the DVDs, some research/writing topics - as well as some caucus / political experiences (We live in Iowa - so we get a lot of experience with democracy and campaigning around here! ;) ), we will have the necessary hours for 1 credit. 

 

Thank you for mentioning FundaFunda - I'd never heard of it.  

Again, I appreciate the time you each took to respond. Very grateful.

[DarcyM]

Darcy,

 

I am going to share my experience with Great Courses to see if it can help you decide what is best for your situation.  Last year, my daughter was in 9^th grade and I created a “syllabus†for her World History course.  I had the opportunity to purchase a few sets of used courses and was able to match several videos (from different courses offered by Great Courses) to a 32 chapter college textbook (it was a college textbook, but it was easy to read).  The syllabus consisted of the following: listen to the videos assigned to the chapter (99 videos for 32 chapters), review for a short quiz, and then take the quiz for that particular chapter (all in 127 days).  I initially estimated that she was going to take anywhere between 158-191 hours to complete, but she completed all 99 videos, read all 32 chapters, reviews and quizzes in 155 hours.

 

My daughter did well last year with this format that she dual-enrolled for two world history courses over the summer (between 9^th and 10^th grade); she obtained a solid A for the first part of world history and it seems that she is going to get another solid A for the second part of world history.  According to my daughter, even though world history is accelerated in college (especially over the summer), both courses were easy because of the format presented at home in the previous academic year.

 

For the upcoming year, I am planning to do the same (use History of the United States from Great Courses).  However, I am still searching for a college textbook that would be “an easy read,†then write the detailed course syllabus before her start date at the end of August.  The plan is to have her dual-enroll for both US history courses next summer to validate what I did at home.

 

I apologize for the long post, but I hope it helps with your decision.  Good luck to you and your son.

 

 

We're using the same one you will this year (http://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/history-of-the-united-states-2nd-edition.html?pfm=UpsellSlider&pos=2&recloc=pdp)  and I'm going to attempt to line up  The American Odyssey: A History of the United States with it. That doesn't qualify as a college text, so I'm not sure your daughter can get AP credit for it, but as of right now - we're in a state where you have to DE to do the AP tests, so we're not. DE requires a bit more meddling here, so we're opting out. A choice I hope we won't regret! 

 

:)

[Jamee]

:hurray:   :drool5:  :thumbup1:  :w00t:

Because of your comment, I just found where Audible includes the PDF of the guidebook (on your account, under Library, look under the 'title' column for your purchase & there will be a PDF link). Thank you SO MUCH for mentioning this. This was the one negative, for me, in getting the Audible title vs. buying it (much more expensively - because I used an Audible credit) on the GC website. I missed that Guidebook tremendously! 

 

:svengo: So much less work ahead of me now that I have it.  :party:

 

NO WAY!!!!  I guess this is what I get from never going on Audible on my computer. :glare:  The pdfs don't show up for all of them, but I'll take what I can get!  Thank you. :hurray:

[RootAnn]

I found there are some PDFs of other Great Courses available on the web. (I Googled great courses guidebook +pdf and then put in a key word from the course you are looking for like +Music.)

 

FundaFunda is run by a WTM boardie. I find out all my awesome sources here.

 

Good luck, Darcy!

[Miss Mousie]

:hurray:   :drool5:  :thumbup1:  :w00t:

Because of your comment, I just found where Audible includes the PDF of the guidebook (on your account, under Library, look under the 'title' column for your purchase & there will be a PDF link). Thank you SO MUCH for mentioning this. This was the one negative, for me, in getting the Audible title vs. buying it (much more expensively - because I used an Audible credit) on the GC website. I missed that Guidebook tremendously! 

 

:svengo: So much less work ahead of me now that I have it.  :party:

 

I had no idea they were right there on Audible!  That makes me feel SO much better about buying from them, for the same reasons you mentioned.  Hooray!