Independent Study Idaho’s online courses

[bella2011]

maybe this will help someone

Independent Study in Idaho

100 per credit for online course.

[addision]

Yep, have used them a few times. I took Philosophy, Ethics, and Astronomy. All these courses had a lot of coursework. You may be able to complete the courses in about 4-6 weeks. The instructors will allow about 4 assignment submissions at one time. Only the astronomy course had proctored exams.

My instructors knew their stuff and expect you to as well, my astronomy professor at the time was a former NASA scientist. Grading was fair, they nit pick and call you on little things but they may deduct 1/4 point, they appear to just want to make you conscious of errors, I got all A's. There was a ton of reading and writing in the philosophy and ethics courses.

Now, I have taken the courses and CLEPs and DANTES exams where I just needed to get this done and over with to get my degree asap. But when I look back at these courses, as well as the ones from CSU Pueblo, I really felt I was receiving an education and learning something. I realized this was tied to the level of interaction from the instructor. They wouldn't just grade your work and give you a grade, they wanted you to understand and build on what you knew. That made all the difference.

These are not going to be like the Straighterline or Penn Foster courses that you can finish quickly in one to three weeks (I finished Algebra in one night at Straighterline), but there are a number of advantages. There are many 300-400 courses that will give your credit for upper division, they are independent study, they come from 4 year institutions (Idaho State, U of I, Boise State) and they are not that expensive.

I wish they had more Calculus courses and the Physics had labs and I would be set. The response from administration is awesome, communication is right on spot. I could not ask for a better system.

[ryoder]

Great write up. Thanks.