Civics Options - What did you like/hate

[Lacedonia4]

I took straighterline's American Gov. course and I thought the textbook was a really enjoyable read, which was unexpected. I can't say I'm a fan of Study.com at all, but we're all different. I'd definitely give Instantcert a go for $20.

Can't agree more. I enjoyed straighterline as well. And I am not a big fan of study.com, although right now I am giving it a try but not really fond of option that courses can only be taken once and that is it. If I fail a course, I'd retake it, even if I have to pay for the course again. I wish straighterline added UL courses.

[ARhead]

Maybe I misunderstood what you said, but I think you have 3 chances at each study.com course's exam. But you have to pay the $70 for the retry.

[Lacedonia4]

Even so, the retries should not be limited, I should be able to take a course as many times as I want and pay for it. The limitation is because they are in a contract with universities. Unequivocally the students will take the course at the college in the end since they need those UL courses to graduate. I will take same courses with BYU Independent Studies first if I happen to fail any on SDC, so I save money.

[tallpilot]

Even so, the retries should not be limited, I should be able to take a course as many times as I want and pay for it. The limitation is because they are in a contract with universities. Unequivocally the students will take the course at the college in the end since they need those UL courses to graduate. I will take same courses with BYU Independent Studies first if I happen to fail any on SDC, so I save money.

If they allowed unlimited retakes on top of it being pass/fail and giving 3 tries at the exam and multiple tries at the assignments; the credit would be even more worthless than it is now.  Nobody wants it to be too hard; that's just unnecessary work but it needs to be hard enough that not every person off the street can do it and it ensures some standard level of knowledge.

[jsh1138]

I have taken something like 60 Study.com courses and there is no way you can do the quizzes yourself and fail the final three times. I mean literally no way. If you read the material the finals are easy; they're all multiple choice.

I get failing a paper, that's more subjective, but you're not going to fail those finals if you've put any effort at all into the quizzes.

[Lacedonia4]

[quote='Lacedonia4' pid='317228' dateline='1598974421']
Even so, the retries should not be limited, I should be able to take a course as many times as I want and pay for it. The limitation is because they are in a contract with universities. Unequivocally the students will take the course at the college in the end since they need those UL courses to graduate. I will take same courses with BYU Independent Studies first if I happen to fail any on SDC, so I save money.

There seems to be a little confusion between the retakes of the exam in one enrolled course and retake of the course after a complete fail after all tries. For the latter, a second chance should be allowed. Otherwise it means also sophia courses are worthless since they allow a myriad of retakes (course can be dropped before failing and restarted from scratch). Some courses can be hard and it is possible to fail, my only problem is with a second chance on a potential failed course. It hasn't affected me so far, not with study.com, and not even sure I am going to take courses for credit with them yet. In a sense the fact that I cannot have a choice for at least a second retake makes me want to spend more and go with the courses at TESU.

[tallpilot]

Even so, the retries should not be limited, I should be able to take a course as many times as I want and pay for it. The limitation is because they are in a contract with universities. Unequivocally the students will take the course at the college in the end since they need those UL courses to graduate. I will take same courses with BYU Independent Studies first if I happen to fail any on SDC, so I save money.

If they allowed unlimited retakes on top of it being pass/fail and giving 3 tries at the exam and multiple tries at the assignments; the credit would be even more worthless than it is now.  Nobody wants it to be too hard; that's just unnecessary work but it needs to be hard enough that not every person off the street can do it and it ensures some standard level of knowledge.

I understand that. The only problem I have with it is I do not understand the limitation. I can retake any course I want at a real college if I fail it, and I would pay a lot yes, but it doesn't lessen the worthiness of their courses, it simply means that I purchase the course and they grade it. It is, after all, a business. I know it is not easy to fail at study.com, although I have read of a few students in this forum that have indeed failed courses. But if students are willing to pay, there should be no limits imposed.

I see your point but the difference at a real college is the F is recorded. You can retake the course and some colleges won’t even count it against your GPA but the F is still permanently on your transcript. If SDC let you have unlimited retakes, you could take 12 tries to finally get something and nobody would ever know. It simply isn’t fair to other students to allow that.

The B&M college also probably didn’t let you retake exams three times before giving you the hypothetical F. Like JSH said; I really can’t see how someone who does every quiz can’t get a 55% on a multiple guess exam.  If that is the case there is a fundamental lack of knowledge and SDC is correct to refuse to credential someone like that.

[Lacedonia4]

I clicked edit instead of reply but yes, I find study.com a little confusing and not straightforward as other platforms.

[tallpilot]

Even so, the retries should not be limited, I should be able to take a course as many times as I want and pay for it. The limitation is because they are in a contract with universities. Unequivocally the students will take the course at the college in the end since they need those UL courses to graduate. I will take same courses with BYU Independent Studies first if I happen to fail any on SDC, so I save money.

There seems to be a little confusion between the retakes of the exam in one enrolled course and retake of the course after a complete fail after all tries. For the latter, a second chance should be allowed. Otherwise it means also sophia courses are worthless since they allow a myriad of retakes. Some courses can be hard and it is possible to fail, my only problem is with a second chance on a potential failed course. It hasn't affected me so far, not with study.com, and not even sure I am going to take courses for credit with them yet. In a sense the fact that I cannot have a choice for at least a second retake makes me want to spend more and go with the courses at TESU.

I know you don't like SDC but it is just two different ways of accomplishing the same thing.  Sophia requires a 70% average on challenges and milestones with one retake of each (if you score less than 50%).  Then a 50% on the final.  Will they continue to allow unlimited retakes now that they are not charging per course?  When it was $329 a pop there was pretty strong incentive not to risk needing to repeat a course.

SDC provides 3 tries at the exam along with 3 tries at the assignments (if any) plus 3 tries at the quizzes (that's one more try per event than Sophia and you don't need to wait for permission either).  The real issue is people not understanding the scoring and screwing up the quizzes, then they are indeed backed into a corner especially in a course with no assignments to lower the required exam score.
In the end both provide ample opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge at the required level.  I vastly prefer both methods to trying to study a whole textbook or a giant slide deck then going to take an all or nothing test.  But some people love the TECEP model.  Different strokes.

I get where you are coming from that the entire system is a huge money making scam riddled with capricious rules.  Well of course it is (that's all higher education in the US has been for decades) but it is far cheaper and faster than 4 years at your local schools (even if you did a 2+2) and way cheaper than 4 years at a fancy place or even an out of state public.  There must always be rules or consequences for failure otherwise none of it is worth the paper it's written on.

[Lacedonia4]

Thanks, and I agree, it is hard to adjust from European schools to B&M American colleges, and then on to CLEP and various online platforms and a few regular courses at one of the Big3s (TESU in my case).

And sometimes it is the presentation.
SDC feels very crowded visually.
Sophia and Straighterline have a cleaner way to present their material, and so are courses at TESU. Somehow the way a course is presented visually gives a different sense of comfort.