Straighterline Problems - Anyone else have these issues?

[Accounting Man]

I just finished the Macroeconomics course at SL and I had several issues with their blackboard program. Here is what I wrote to them in their student survey:


1. At least a third of the internet links in the course presentations were broken. I was disappointed as some of that looked really interesting. 2. There were a few times when the vocabulary words for a given unit had words that were NOT in the book and they were NOT on the test. 3. When I took the practice tests, the results would sometimes surprise me. Answers I knew were correct would come back as wrong. The Smarthinking tutors confirmed the official answer was mis-entered. It happened several times but I did not confirm after a while. This made me really paranoid when I took my graded tests. What else was mis-entered? It got to the point that the only reason I wanted to use Smarthinking was to check for your mistakes. I decided not to waste my time. 4. On EVERY practice and graded test, I would click the arrow to move on to the next question and would get an ACCESS DENIED message. I kept having to go back and try again. This would happen several times per test. It was a real concentration breaker.

Originally I was thinking I would take Econ 2 with you as well, but my experience with all the issues listed above has made me rethink that. Now I'm not sure. What I am sure about is that your blackboard program needs a complete overhaul.

Have any of you had these problems? I wanted to Microeconomics at SL but now I'm not sure. Any advice?

[HarleyMan]

I just completed both economic courses. I too encountered a few typo's but no incorrect/correct answers that I'm aware of.
Perhaps the "access denied" was a result of having other windows open and it conflicted with the program, IDK just a thought.
I did get an A in both course's, but I skipped the practice test after finding out that most of the questions were totally different than the real test.

If your happy with the grade I'd take the other course, but they are time consuming.

[hkhart]

I experienced similar problems. The access denied happened all of the time, but I finally realized that if I just hit back, it worked. I found several errors in the A&P II course, blatant errors that I forwarded to advisor. One they came back and said, no it was correct. However, again, I knew it to be wrong due to background - so I tracked down two separate sources, including article from JAMA citing that the answer was wrong. I got credit. I didn't need the points, but after seeing the errors, it became a point of contention. I did earn some "Flip" points for whatever those are worth. I can't comment on outside links as I didn't use any within the SL courses.

One of the issues I did have, was that the way I interpreted the instructions, after the completion of the test, you would be able to review and see what was wrong. However, I believe that you should see the entire question including the other choices, so that you can understand why the wrong answer was wrong. That is not what you get though and that question went unanswered by SL.

[Accounting Man]

Thanks for the feedback guys. It's nice to know I'm not going crazy :p

[jackbanta]

I got the access denied problem all the time too. It was very annoying. Also, I swear that there were four or five questions throughout the course of taking Accounting I and II that were flatout wrong. I protested on the first two, but their review came back saying I was wrong, but their logic was very convoluted. I didn't bother again after that. If my grade was closer to being effected, I might have cared, but I passed both with like a 94 and a 93 and didn't figure it was worth the effort.

But yeah, the whole experience seemed a step down from what I would expect out of a real online college course (although sometimes those can be REAL disappointments, from what I understand). Some of the typos were blatant and ridiculous (just for a quick example, both finals for Accounting I and II claim a 3 hour, 40 question exam. Each exam was 50 questions.) Basically, for the money, it seems about right, but I think I was actually more impressed with how ALEKS is put together.

It's still a great value and a very good tool though!

[cglgolf1]

Have been moving through the Straighterline Courses pretty quickly. Advice, get the textbook, watch lesson , and take test and move on. Been completing a course in about a weeks time. Cheap textbooks thru Abe Books.com. Got Macro, Micro, Pshycology, Criminal Justice, and Frankenstein for about $25.00 included shipping. Roughly $5 a book. Just a suggestion.