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Straighter Line college courses online?


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Has anyone tried Straighter Line courses online?  They are college-level courses, are accredited, and claim they will transfer many places.  I have a call in to our CC to see if they will take the credits - dd says she'd rather try this than CLEP a couple of subjects.  If they won't take the credits, it's moot, but if they say they will, I was wondering if anyone had used them and what kind of an experience you had.  Content well delivered, how is navigating the course, did student do well, any other impressions?

 

 

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We used them and they worked well. Between the two dc's they did a few so I can ask them for details about specific courses. The important thing is to move through the courses efficiently because of cost. They both did English Comp 101 and 102 with them and it was very well done from what I could see.

 

If the CC does ACE credits you should be fine. There should be a list at Straighterline regarding direct credits per dh.

 

The hardest thing was probably the Proctoru exam format. If something went wrong it was painful but they always managed to make things right in the end so no real complaints.

 

She might want to look at Saylor https://www.saylor.org which is an incredible concept if it works for the student. All the content is free so no books etc needed and the only charge is the exam fee with Proctoru. Once again ACE credits. We have only used it once for a networking class. Very satisfied.

 

If we had it to do over again Saylor would be the first choice before Straighterline.

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Thanks, that's very helpful information.  So if I understand correctly, the credit is given if they pass a final test - the Proctoru?  Would you mind some questions about that test?

 

- Is it administered online?

- Is it multiple choice or ?

- What is the time limit?

- And it sounds like it's proctored?  Where does one take it?

- Any idea of difficulty compared to the CLEP?

 

Dd is pushing for this because she's intimidated by everything coming down to one test, but it sounds like this might still be the case.  I'm wondering if I might just be better off getting a tutor to 'force' her to study properly for the CLEP (because one or two problems every couple of days is *not* studying properly...)  At some point she's going to have to learn how to study properly for an exam...

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Thanks, that's very helpful information.  So if I understand correctly, the credit is given if they pass a final test - the Proctoru?  Would you mind some questions about that test?

 

- Is it administered online?

- Is it multiple choice or ?

- What is the time limit?

- And it sounds like it's proctored?  Where does one take it?

- Any idea of difficulty compared to the CLEP?

 

Dd is pushing for this because she's intimidated by everything coming down to one test, but it sounds like this might still be the case.  I'm wondering if I might just be better off getting a tutor to 'force' her to study properly for the CLEP (because one or two problems every couple of days is *not* studying properly...)  At some point she's going to have to learn how to study properly for an exam...

 

ProctorU is not a test. They are a company that many online courses use to proctor their exams. I would assume that most schools would take Straighter Line credits if it is regionally accredited. Many 4 year universities will not take CLEP scores.

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Straighter Line's website is a little misleading — they are not an accredited institution and the courses themselves are not "accredited" (in the sense that courses from an accredited college or university are). They are more like CLEPs in the sense that credit needs to be granted by the receiving institution, not the one that is offering the courses. And fewer colleges accept ACE courses versus CLEP tests. Definitely check this list to see if the colleges your DD is interested in will definitely give credit for them. And even if the CC will take them, if she later transfers to a 4 yr, they may not.
 
ETA: One advantage of CLEP is that there is usually a list of which ones a college will accept right on their website, so you know in advance before you take a test if the college(s) you're interested in will give credit for them. With ACE courses, unless you are transferring them into one of the few colleges that guarantee to take them all (like the ones that Straighter Line "partners" with), then the credits are often evaluated on a case by case basis after the student is admitted. So when Straighter Line says that "More than 2,000 colleges and universities consider ACE credit recommendations in determining the applicability to their schools course and degree programs," what they mean is that those colleges will consider evaluating them, and you might or might not get credit.

Edited by Corraleno
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Straighter Line's website is a little misleading — they are not an accredited institution and the courses themselves are not "accredited" (in the sense that courses from an accredited college or university are). They are more like CLEPs in the sense that credit needs to be granted by the receiving institution, not the one that is offering the courses. And fewer colleges accept ACE courses versus CLEP tests. Definitely check this list to see if the colleges your DD is interested in will definitely give credit for them. And even if the CC will take them, if she later transfers to a 4 yr, they may not.

 

ETA: One advantage of CLEP is that there is usually a list of which ones a college will accept right on their website, so you know in advance before you take a test if the college(s) you're interested in will give credit for them. With ACE courses, unless you are transferring them into one of the few colleges that guarantee to take them all (like the ones that Straighter Line "partners" with), then the credits are often evaluated on a case by case basis after the student is admitted. So when Straighter Line says that "More than 2,000 colleges and universities consider ACE credit recommendations in determining the applicability to their schools course and degree programs," what they mean is that those colleges will consider evaluating them, and you might or might not get credit.

 

I have a call in to the CC to see if they'll accept the ACE credits, and we won't move ahead till they give the affirmative.  Her CC is not a partner school, but is on the list of "May consider ACE credits", so I am awaiting their consideration. ;)

 

I am almost sure that the 4-year she may someday attend will not accept these credits, but it won't matter.  The couple of classes I'm thinking of having her take would only count toward a Liberal Arts AA.  They would not be included in the more limited guaranteed Transfer Block that gets her out of GenEds at a state 4-year, so they only have to be accepted at the CC.  When she gets to Calculus, I told her she would have to go for the CLEP.  That is accepted at all our state 4-years and I'd want that to transfer.

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Thanks for the clarification. How does it work to have online proctoring???

Basically someone watched them take their exams via a webcam and microphone. https://test-it-out.proctoru.com shows the equipment requirements. Not sure if this says anywhere but they needed a mirror so they could show they were alone in the room. The exams were either 90 minutes or 2 hours. Mixed content I believe but it depends on the course and syllabus.

 

You need to book an appointment in advance for the Proctoru exams. For a bit more money you can sometimes book it same day. Proctoru works pretty well and seems to be common. They have used it for some more traditional online classes taken directly from traditional university also.

 

Straighterline classes had the same basic requirements as most introductory classes, just online. Textbooks could be bought online and frequently were free with an offer. There is a syllabus which can be downloaded, for instance http://www.straighterline.com/online-college-courses/humanities/united-states-history-i/.

 

We occasionally used Straighterline as a study vehicle for other exams with ds, especially history. He actually learned to follow a syllabus which was all important....not just conceptually but actually using it successfully. Both dc's frequently went into the final needing very little to pass the classes so they definitely didn't depend totally on performance on one exam. Some classes had papers etc so definitely not all multiple choice.

 

Make sure you look at Saylor (which also has ACE credits) if you end up just wanting a study method for the Clep exams. Free, so way cheaper! :lol:

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