Finally... Brightspace Confirmed for Fall 1

[joshua27]

I agree with everything... It's interesting though, I thought that with the proctoring, it'll be better at curving the cheaters.  I still don't know how they would cheat as they are being recorded or whatever proctoring system they use... Anyways, there are always pros/cons for moving into different systems of learning.

WGU has had lots of issues with cheaters even though we're proctored. And it's a live proctor. Doesn't stop people. All of these goofy things we have to show the proctor before we begin an exam is because someone was caught cheating. They added a search of your computer background functions. Why? Someone was cheating. Proctoring also costs $$$$. One way to help keep tuition in check is to stick to papers/projects. 

When I was at Amberton, I had a couple of classes with unproctored exams. They were all open book, but timed so you didn't have much time to search your notes or the textbook. It wasn't stress free, but a different type of stress than being proctored. We also had limited days to take the exams. It was like 2-3 days. You could take them whenever you wanted during the time it was open. You had to complete it though. Once you started it, it counted whether or not you finished it. You also didn't get multiple chances on an exam like WGU. UMPI could move to this, but it may be an accreditation issue. YourPace is CBE and Amberton is not. It's a typical semester based type program crammed into 10 weeks. They also have 2 different accreditation boards. All of the U of M system is now accredited instead of the individual universities which is a new concept and I think they're the first to do it - at least in their board.

I like the idea of more project-based/paper-based finals as I got As in all of those at UMPI and ended up with Bs in both of my exam based classes.  That being said, I believe a good mixture of open book exams would also be beneficial with a fairly restrictive time limit.  The "real world" allows folks to google or brush up on a concept they may not have utilized recently so it's much more representative of life outside of the University.  With regard to business and accounting classes, I think exams are sometimes a better test of your retention of concepts.

Being totally honest, I felt like the SDC method is a much better "test" of whether you understand material or not.  That coming from someone who hates proctored exams and had a couple of bad experiences.  I really had to LEARN the material at SDC whereas at UMPI, had I chosen not to, I could have just skipped through and wrote the papers.  I certainly hope that the move to Brightspace is great for everyone still attending.  I would love to get a MBA at UMPI if they would ever offer it!