How good are the AP classes at GVL?

[SarahW]

I'm throwing together some AP classes at the last minute. HG and ES, to be exact. It's for a teen I know, and I'm not going to be around to hover while she does them. So I'm trying to make up a schedule and a detailed syllabus.

 

But I'm wondering if the courses at Georgia Virtual Learning are any good. ES here: http://www.gavirtuallearning.org/Resources/APEnvironmentalScience.aspx. HG here: http://www.gavirtuallearning.org/Resources/APHumanGeography.aspx. On the one hand, it's already laid out. On the other hand, it looks sorta...boring. And I'm trying to page through it, but I'm not sure if it covers everything. Wondering if anyone has already looked through these courses and given them a thumbs up or down?

 

I'm also planning to buy previous editions of recommended AP textbooks for her. She says she wants something "she can read outside" so a hard copy book is going to be acquired. But I'm not sure if she'll study the textbook well enough (while she's reading outside) to get all the content, so the online courses at GVL may be good practice and review?

 

Test prep books will also be acquired. If anyone want to throw out a recommendation for one in particular for ES or HG, that's also appreciated.

 

Also, has anyone had an AP syllabus approved which included GVL? Or are the GVL courses already AP approved?

 

 

[plansrme]

My daughter has taken a couple and found the quality uneven.  AP American Lit was fine, although she did not take the exam because she already has AP Lang, and most colleges do not give credit for both.  She made a 5 on American Government after taking the course through GaVS.  Comparative Government, on the other hand, she no-showed the exam because she realized a week before the test date that her course had not covered anything since the 1980s and that the test questions draw heavily from the 80s forward.  If she had not been up to her eyeballs with other coursework at the time, she could have self-studied the last two or three decades and been fine, as she is well-versed in AP prep.  

 

Both of my daughters have taken Chinese through GaVS and did well, although they had both had Chinese for years with a private tutor.

 

The GaVS AP classes are already approved by the College Board and are intended to be full courses taught by the GaVS instructor.  Theoretically, you don't have to do anything.  I will say that they seemed far less focused on busy work than her AP classes at her public high school.  I don't remember my daughters having textbooks for any of their GaVS classes, but I am sure there are plenty of texts that would work for when she just wants to read about the subject.  The AP courses are so broad that I would think that any reputable text would provide enough information to do well in the course.

 

 

 

 

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I've written three AP syllabuses that have been approved by College Board.  One son also did the Amplify/Edhesive AP Computer Science course online last year.  I skimmed through the GVL AP Comp Gov pages.  I'm sure that I'm missing some key parts of their program (like where you access the etext), but I would not use it to prepare for the AP Comp Gov exam.

 

The activities are pretty juvenile, with drag and drop sorting activities, flashcards and crosswords.  AP is supposed to be a college level course.  Scoring criteria for the syllabus include items like repeated exposure to free response questions (which for Comp Gov are short paragraphs, frequently comparing how two countries deal with a topic) and AP style multiple choice.  I don't see questions like this on the site.

 

Comp Gov can be a one semester course.  But I don't think the GVL site would help a student who was starting from scratch with the subject.

 

ETA:  It looks like the eText is available upon enrollment.  I'm still wondering what you actually get access to when you enroll.  It seems that the cost varies between free to the student (paid through a state pot of money) to $400 or more.  For that cost, I would expect some weekly interaction with a live teacher as well as solid feedback on assignments.  (This is particularly important with AP courses that require a strong free response section.)

 

For what it's worth, anyone can access the sample syllabuses on the College Board website.  In fact if you decide you want to adopt them for your own use, that can be the basis of having your course approved by College Board.  (I've usually done quite a bit more work on mine, but I do keep looking at the samples as a reminder of how little they might have to say.)

 

 

[Luckymama]

I checked four units for APHG.

 

First of all, the material is presented in bullet/outline form which would drive me crazy, but might work for someone else. It appears more like a review, instead of initial presentation.

 

I like that previously-released FRQs are included for each unit. I don't see any links for how-to-construct-an-FRQ, so would that come from the teacher? (Is there a live teacher? I am unfamiliar with GaVS.)

 

I cannot view the in-page activities because I'm on an ipad.

 

The "projects" are some typical school assignments I encountered during my research when writing the syllabus. Some are very necessary (you have to be comfortable with the Demographic Transition Model and population pyramids, for example) and others seem kind of busy work (country reports) but necessary for large groups.

 

I think dd learned the most from discussions with our small group (the two of us, my sister, her son lol) held after the textbook chapter was studied, the additional reading from newspapers/websites, amd short videos from news and other sources. I chose the extras to demonstrate the concepts using (at the time) contemporaneous material. I thought they would have more impact by being topics in the news (for example, the migration of unaccompanied minors inti the US last summer).

[SarahW]

Okay, so I was thinking she could follow the course without signing up for the class. That should be perfectly legal under the OER license? Money is a big issue here, as in there is none. Working from a separate textbook instead of the class e-text could be solved if I write up a syllabus lining up the topics between the two.

 

I'm suggesting that she bug family members and friends talking about what she covers in the classes. They (and myself) can also look over anything she writes. It wouldn't be pretty, but right now we're interested in more down-and-dirty than in-depth and amazing. These are topics of interest to her, so I'm hoping that will provide lots of motivation to keep up with the class throughout the year. But I feel that checking off the online modules will also motivate her.

 

I'm looking at lots of syllabi, and joined CB, but phew. Making an AP class in week in NOT recommended!

[coloradomomof5]

i was looking at geography for one semester in 9th grade.  i have looked at Northstar, PAC, ACE and GVL.  tonight i stumbled on time4learning.  has anyone taken this class or other classes from time4learning.  we are looking to check the box and stay engaged.  he has other challenging courses he is focusing on at this time.