Experience with Alison?

[SCYankee]

I remember people talking about using Alison for a math requirement. However, I'm interested in this for my son, a high school student, to learn more about engineering/construction. They have memberships. They sell certificates and "diplomas", and the certificates can be digital. Can anybody here answer some questions?

1. Is the digital cert like a credly badge, and kept in a public profile?
2. If I order a printed cert, do i still have to pax extra for a digital cert?
3. What is the quality of the printed cert?

I like that the courses I saw are around 15 hours of work or less, which allows him to start small and accumulate a few in a short period of time. Sarting with a long 8 week course could be a little too much too soon.

Thanks for any help.

[rachel83az]

Where were people talking about Alison for a math requirement? Because if you're talking about the Alison I think you're talking about, it's not accredited or credit-recommended in any way. The certificates are usually not worth the paper they're printed on. Alison is fine for personal growth, but not really anything beyond that.

[sanantone]

I haven't heard of people using Alison for college credits. Maybe you're talking about ALEKS? I tried going through Alison courses, and they're very basic. You just get a general overview of what's expected in a career. At least that's what I saw with the courses I tried.

[DolceDolce]

I remember people talking about using Alison for a math requirement. However, I'm interested in this for my son, a high school student, to learn more about engineering/construction. They have memberships. They sell certificates and "diplomas", and the certificates can be digital. Can anybody here answer some questions?

1. Is the digital cert like a credly badge, and kept in a public profile?
2. If I order a printed cert, do i still have to pax extra for a digital cert?
3. What is the quality of the printed cert?

I like that the courses I saw are around 15 hours of work or less, which allows him to start small and accumulate a few in a short period of time. Sarting with a long 8 week course could be a little too much too soon.

Thanks for any help.

They are a UK-based organization, and while some selections are certified, it's through a UK organization, and not ACE nor NCCRS accredited. The NCCRS is less recognized, but it is accepted at the Big 3 online colleges.

[bjcheung77]

@SCYankee, Are you referring to homeschooling the teen and having them complete comparable courses through Alison or similar sites such as Khan Academy? It won't really matter how the student learns as long as they grasp the concepts. If you wanted, I really suggest hitting the ACE options so they get college credit as well, so I would suggest either CLEP/MS or Sophia.org depending on your budget, commitments, time, etc.

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Edit to Add: You should review this thread, start with Dual Enrollment with a community college, take CLEP/AP and ACE/NCCRS options if you feel fit with those choices: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...d-with-ACE

[SCYankee]

I haven't heard of people using Alison for college credits. Maybe you're talking about ALEKS?

Yes ALEKS. I must have found Alison a while back and confused the two.

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@SCYankee, Are you referring to homeschooling the teen and having them complete comparable courses through Alison or similar sites such as Khan Academy?  It won't really matter how the student learns as long as they grasp the concepts.  If you wanted, I really suggest hitting the ACE options so they get college credit as well, so I would suggest either CLEP/MS or Sophia.org depending on your budget, commitments, time, etc.

---

Edit to Add: You should review this thread, start with Dual Enrollment with a community college, take CLEP/AP and ACE/NCCRS options if you feel fit with those choices: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...d-with-ACE

No, we aren't there yet. He's no longer homeschooled. I just wanted to help him access some basic intro engineering and construction courses online, just to build foundational knowledge. Then we'll move into Sophia and SDC, if he wants to knock a few years off university, and maybe use those years to finish BS and obtain a Master's.

[rachel83az]

I would check Coursera and edX for courses first before Alison. I'm not sure if they have any, but it's worth a look. Alison tends to be very, very superficial. If your son has an interest in engineering and construction already, he's probably already got an Alison-level of knowledge.

If you want to use Alison anyway, don't pay for the certs.

[bjcheung77]

Cool update, basically, I would skip Alison and ALEKS in favor of CSM Learn for math and ladder into Coursera/TADA to see if there are anything he may be interested in... That's basically to get the feet wet with the cheapies/freebies available. If he would like to go above that, take the CLEP/MS or Sophia.org after the cheapies or freebies are done...

[ss20ts]

There's a certificate on Coursera in Construction Management. It's offered by Columbia University.

https://www.coursera.org/specializations...management

[eminor7]

I've tried Allison before. I found the platform hard to use and the course content not as great compared to Coursera. If I remember correctly it was mostly videos. At that rate you might as well just watch YouTube or LinkedIn Learning.