Degree planning - POS 101: American Government vs. SOPHIA US Government

[podspud]

So as Sophia is rolling out their version of the US government course I thought I'd chime in and make a recommendation for those of you looking to do this with Sophia versus UMPI.

UMPI POS 101: American Government 

According to those previously taking the courses at UMPI on the forum, we get the following analysis:

Long or Short?: Short
Number of Milestone Activities: 4
Type of Milestone Activities: Brief written answer, paragraph or less. 
Type of Final Assessment: Essay 1500 words
Notes & Overall Thoughts: Just a basic overview of the Government, Bill of Rights, Constitution, etc. Very quick and basic course.

Most people chiming in on the discord are also mentioning that it was a quicker course, compared to other courses they were taking at UMPI.

SOPHIA US Government:

1500 - 2500 word paper with citations, etc., and a smaller assignment (~ 500 words) creating a special interest group.
5 Milestone tests, they are the long ones with 24 & 25 questions
The readings are long and dense and very much in the style of a "Survey of ..." course as opposed to an "Introduction to ..." course.


For current and future degree planners, we might want to look at this like we currently view the Sophia English Comp courses.  With 2 touchstones and hefty reading and testing requirements, the course represents a considerable workload compared to other 3 credit courses offered by Sophia. Personally I even found the Business Law course better presented and easier to digest.  Also, with the 2 touchstones, it can create a timing roadblock for those looking to quickly completing a block of Sophia courses.

That being said, the course isn't unfair ... it's just very very long. For those whom time is the limiting factor, they might be better off with the SDC or CLEP version of the credits. 

Finally, this might just be another strong recommendation to take at UMPI depending on any transfer credits. If I had to do it over again, I'd probably do the UMPI route over Sophia.

[Ncerva]

After looking at the syllabus and the touchstones for US GOV on Sophia I opted to take the American Government CLEP exam. I took the Modern States course for it, it took about 3 days to study and I passed. Pretty though CLEP, but it was a quick 3 free credits.

[ss20ts]

It's an easy course to get an A in. Seems like everyone could use an easy A in their GPA. The course content is VERY short on UMPI. I was really surprised at how short this class was.

[LevelUP]

Study.com American Govt. there are no essays to write. 

Also, you can take a placement test that will reduce the total number of quizzes you must take. 

I did the CLEP myself, which took 15 hours to study for the exam.

[LakeMomNY]

I did the Study.com course. Completing the quizzes is tedious, but once you do it (with 100s) the exam is pretty low-stress since you really don't need to do very well to pass the course.

[Jarnaginra]

I’m currently taking the course with Sophia and agree that is very dense.  It’s taking me the longest of any 7 of the other courses I’ve taken on Sophia.   I opted to take it with Sophia simply to try to get my total course count at UMPI down.   Everything the OP posted about it is true, I’ve found the readings/tutorials very thorough and there are no video tutorials like the macroeconomics course.   Just got my research paper touchstone graded and trudging along

[bjcheung77]

It really depends on the student, some would take this at Sophia.org to get the numbers down to 10 or close to that number when they reach UMPI. On the other hand, some would take this at UMPI along with about 9-10 courses for the grade and speed to complete... I would tell the student to decide if they want to 'chance' it to take the minimum or 'chance' it to complete everything in 1-2 sessions.

[LevelUP]

I would say Sophia's quizzes and milestones are faster than doing a large number of Study.com quizzes, with the exception of the Sophia course that includes questions requiring multiple answers. Depending on the topic, these quizzes may take a longer time to complete.

The time required to write papers can vary depending on individual writing speed.

There seems to be a general consensus that Study.com would be quicker for U.S. government, although the extent of the time difference is uncertain.

[ss20ts]

Something for international students. UMPI's American Government may be easier for you since it's much shorter and not pages and pages of content like a novel. The Final Assessment is pretty easy and there's plenty of research available to use for it. You just write about 2 American government issues which are important to you. This is incredibly broad!