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What was the name of that European online school offering free AP classes?


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I have not even been to their website yet but the personal attacks on the staff there leave a bad taste. We're all capable of doing research, "buyer" beware and all. It's a free service, so it should be even easier to take it or leave it.

 

I don't see it as attacks as much as it is vetting, I was interested, but when I queried who founded it/funding, I got the runaround. I tried again today and they told me their funding for 'this' year came from the Roman Society in England which promotes Latin studies...I asked again who 'founded' it...nothing..they were very eager to discuss their classes and teachers but not the founders. With just a little research you will find that this is an International arm of the Muslim educational system...under their international arm...just look under "list of Muslim educational instutitions" online..it falls under international category. Normally, it would not bother me, but the fact I asked 3 different responders on their chat program who founded it and received no clear answers...makes me very wary of their intentions...just be upfront, don't want to get into they don't want to make this religious...it's all about integrity...if I asked a state college/university/school who their founders/supporters were, they would be quite open if they wanted me to explore their school further.

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With just a little research you will find that this is an International arm of the Muslim educational system...under their international arm...just look under "list of Muslim educational instutitions" online..it falls under international category. 

 

Muslim educational system?? What is the Muslim educational system and their international arm? I did not know there was an 'official' Muslim educational system.

 

The principal of the Harari College Worldwide is someone who is studying at the University of Tel Aviv, Israel? Very Muslim of him. ;)

 

There are no personal attacks here. 

 

I just posted information about the founder, who says of himself that he is a scholar of Islamic Studies and Arabic Linguistics and Literature, and yet his own personal info on his LinkedIn page does not match this information. 

He said in this thread above that he started taking graduate courses at the Tel Aviv University while he was in high school, and after that he started writing encyclopedia articles all while still not having completed his BA requirements. 

His LinkedIn page says that he studied at an Islamic university in Indonesia? 

 

I am confused. Really confused. This place has no central office or physical presence anywhere. The facts are really shady. 

 

But yeah, it's free...so let's all enjoy it!

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I just looked up The Roman Society and they do give grants. 

 

It says in 2014 they gave a grant to the following school:

 

Harari College Worldwide, Herzliya, Israel

 

http://www.romansociety.org/grants-prizes/funding-for-schools.html

Listed under 2014 grants. 

 

This link shows scores of Israeli Bagrut Exams (israeli high school examination)

http://www.harari.edu.pl/academics/academic-achievements/

 

 

http://www.harari.edu.pl/docs/schoolprofile.pdf

 45% of our school body proceed directly to obligatory military service (which makes me think we're talking about the obligatory israeli military service)

 

 

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I am confused. Really confused. This place has no central office or physical presence anywhere. The facts are really shady. 

 

But yeah, it's free...so let's all enjoy it!

 

I'm not sure what we should be worrying about.  That they're somehow going to brainwash our kids into Islamic extremism with their free courses?  That they're going to funnel the $0 they're asking into terrorist organizations?  I'm just not sure what shady stuff you're worried about?

 

I agree that it's an unusual setup.  I'm just having a hard time figuring out what nefarious activities they could be up to with this setup.  So, yeah, it's free, I'm happy to try them out!

 

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They are not Muslim. They are based in Israel.

 

I have no idea who listed them on Wikipedia as a Muslim educational institution. I have no fears of Muslims or Islamic extremism. 

 

This institution just has a very unusual set up and I find the credibility of the people who run it questionable. That is all. Nothing more to add. 

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This institution just has a very unusual set up and I find the credibility of the people who run it questionable. That is all. Nothing more to add. 

 

When you say "shady" and "questionable" it implies some hidden agenda, a subversive or nefarious purpose we should be concerned about. I can come up with some half-baked tinfoil hat scenarios (see above), but none of them stand up to any kind of scrutiny (as you easily showed in your response to the ones I used as examples).   I'm just curious what scenarios you imagine they could be? 

 

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I'm not sure what we should be worrying about.  That they're somehow going to brainwash our kids into Islamic extremism with their free courses?  That they're going to funnel the $0 they're asking into terrorist organizations?  I'm just not sure what shady stuff you're worried about?

 

I agree that it's an unusual setup.  I'm just having a hard time figuring out what nefarious activities they could be up to with this setup.  So, yeah, it's free, I'm happy to try them out!

 

 

Knock it up to being married to an IT guy ...can't tell you how many times he clears my computer  to prevent identity theft..so when I was given a link today to audit their Arabic 2 class, I went to check it out...right before you click on, you have to agree that you give this organization access to your camera and your microphone. Right there is my warning flag...with savvy (not saying they are doing this at all) IT guys, if they have access to your computer in that way...they can do a great deal of damage even if they're just phishing...without a 'true' office, history, certifications that they are safe to access your computer...and not being upfront with their founders...it's a risk not worth taking for our family...

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They are not Muslim. They are based in Israel.

 

I have no idea who listed them on Wikipedia as a Muslim educational institution. I have no fears of Muslims or Islamic extremism. 

 

This institution just has a very unusual set up and I find the credibility of the people who run it questionable. That is all. Nothing more to add. 

 

Those two statements have no bearing that they are not Muslim...are you saying there are no Muslims in Israel? There are over a million Muslims in Israel...not sure what you're meaning..and odd that you only have 5 posts. And like I said, it matters less to me if they're Muslim than  the fact they're trying to hide it..why not just have their organization listed on the website..if I go to a religious school, you'll see the organization's affiliations listed with no attempt at hiding it.

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Knock it up to being married to an IT guy ...can't tell you how many times he clears my computer to prevent identity theft..so when I was given a link today to audit their Arabic 2 class, I went to check it out...right before you click on, you have to agree that you give this organization access to your camera and your microphone. Right there is my warning flag...with savvy (not saying they are doing this at all) IT guys, if they have access to your computer in that way...they can do a great deal of damage even if they're just phishing...without a 'true' office, history, certifications that they are safe to access your computer...and not being upfront with their founders...it's a risk not worth taking for our family...

Again, no dog in this fight, but wouldn't any online interactive, language class need access to your microphone and camera? How ever else would it work?my son's fall literature class through g3 states they need to be able to use a microphone
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Those fearing from indoctrination - we are NOT an Islamic school, even though we did held a Qur'Änic Linguistics programme in the past and about 15% of our students are Muslim - but that's probably because not too many high schools offer Middle Eastern/Islamic Studies classes along with 8 different levels of Arabic.

 

About microphone access - our classes are held through AnyMeeting.com, an online meeting provider. When entering the class, you can refuse letting your microphone/webcam work.

 

Besides, our courses are CB authorised, and unlike many virtual schools our school has its own Course Ledger page - requires physical presence. Google "AP Course Ledger". Our code is 716122. It took us about 1.5 years of work to upgrade our 2-digit online provider code to a full school code.

 

In addition, we 'exist' on the Common Application search engine (used in manual entry in 2013-2014 and will/do appear automatically for 2014-2015 admissions), and are an affiliate school in the Gilder Lehrman Institute. HCW is also a member of the International School Services (and listed in its catalogue) - they help us with teachers recruitment as well.

 

If you're around, come meet us in Berlin! A group of 2 teachers and 12 students (leading %10) will visit Berlin as a Study Trip: July 17 to 24.

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My daughter had her first Spanish 2 lesson today, and I think we are going to be very pleased. It was done one on one over skype, and it sounds like as they move along the majority of the instruction and interaction will be in Spanish. My hope was that this would encourage her to develop her speaking skills and I think it will fit the bill admirably. It's definitely a lot more challenging than the Spanish 1 she did through Spanish Clicks last year (though that was a good beginning). I had to laugh as my daughter totally froze initially and could only come up with "si" and "no," but the instructor had her speaking pretty quickly.

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I'm married to an tech kinda guy too but it has nothing to do with the fact that I know I can easily click "no" and refuse to give anyone access to my microphone/camera. It's also incredibly common to have people ask for that if you're doing something that involves a microphone and camera, i.e. a class. 

 

+ We're using wikipedia articles with no sources as proof now? 

 

That being said, I am bothered by the fact that I can't find any course descriptions or even a list of courses on their website. Am I just missing a link somewhere? Or is it really not there? 

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I'm married to an tech kinda guy too but it has nothing to do with the fact that I know I can easily click "no" and refuse to give anyone access to my microphone/camera. It's also incredibly common to have people ask for that if you're doing something that involves a microphone and camera, i.e. a class.

 

+ We're using wikipedia articles with no sources as proof now?

 

That being said, I am bothered by the fact that I can't find any course descriptions or even a list of courses on their website. Am I just missing a link somewhere? Or is it really not there?

Click on the student handbook and you'll find course descriptions and course catalogue.

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Just spoke with them, they are offering Hebrew this fall!! I queried them on funding, no specifics, just 'private' funding...I'm a little curious as to how we can find where they get their funding...but hope to have my daughters take 2 course in the Fall..they said they were registering now....I don't like giving loads of personal information to organizations if I can't know their funding/agenda...hmmm...

 

Their Facebook page says they charge $75 per credit hour, not sure how that fits into anything -- if it does.  Is that just for certain students?  Or certain classes? Or?

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Those fearing from indoctrination - we are NOT an Islamic school, even though we did held a Qur'Änic Linguistics programme in the past and about 15% of our students are Muslim - but that's probably because not too many high schools offer Middle Eastern/Islamic Studies classes along with 8 different levels of Arabic.

 

You might consider visiting the Wikipedia page linked above and making an adjustment, as this is where the confusion is stemming from. 

 

I mean no disrespect towards your efforts, but I do not believe your institution is -- or is even intended to be -- in the same genre as al-Azhar and al-Qarawiyyin. 

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Does anyone know when the classes for the fall will be up?  I'm planning my year, and would love to know what they are offering, and if it fits our schedule.  Hard to plan when you don't know.  I've never been good with patience.  Need to work on that.

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I'm married to an tech kinda guy too but it has nothing to do with the fact that I know I can easily click "no" and refuse to give anyone access to my microphone/camera. It's also incredibly common to have people ask for that if you're doing something that involves a microphone and camera, i.e. a class.

I agree. I was doing the Jason Project today (they've got a good deal on Homeschool Buyer's Coop if you're interested) and ran into the microphone/camera permission. I don't think the Jason Project has any nefarious interest in my computer....or do they????

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Is there any discussion of exam dates, finding seats and registration timelines on the site? I started trying to find seats in Jan for this years exam.

I really don't know, and my son is only going into 8th so I am just thinking out loud. Posts by you and some others have made me leery of even trying to plan for AP. It seems like helping people here to actually find a place to take the exams would be a nice offering.

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I really don't know, and my son is only going into 8th so I am just thinking out loud. Posts by you and some others have made me leery of even trying to plan for AP. It seems like helping people here to actually find a place to take the exams would be a nice offering.

I think it is asking a lot to expect any online provider to negotiate this. There are so many districts and schools.

 

However it's not too early to ask around about testing in your area. Some states require ps to give access if they have space. The local schools in No. Virginia were easy to work with.

 

Since your son has at least a year that gives you se time with no pressure to work things out. You can also ask about PSAT at the same time. Some schools start testing with 9th graders.

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I think it is asking a lot to expect any online provider to negotiate this. There are so many districts and schools.

 

(snip)

 

Agreed. I was thinking only of Belgium, but I did not make that clear. There are currently no AP test centers in Denmark, so we would have to travel no matter what.

 

Good point about the PSAT-thanks.

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