Sophia Learning Non-proctored?

[katelynn]

Sophia has the best interface and "system" I have used hands down (and thumbs up to them!), I highly recommend them for as many courses as you can take that is not offered by another provider.  Their customer service is top notch as well when I needed something added or my profile changed, they were really quick to get that done.  

One thing to note, Sophia - can you work on your pricing?  I speak for myself, but others may find your pricing a tad more expensive than other providers for similar courses.  The HALFOFF coupon provided and profile switch to using Phoenix was the only option to lower the pricing to a comparable cost to some competitors such as Study.com or StraighterLine.

I think all of us wish they'd work on pricing. Their interface and formatting are the easiest/most enjoyable, it almost doesn't feel like schoolwork. I'd take ALL of the courses I could through them if they lowered their prices. I'm going to be sad when I use these two coupons up, because then it's no more Sophia for me. Can't drain the bank for courses I know I can get elsewhere, for less.

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There are 5 Touchstones in English Comp 1.  However, the course was just renovated to a side-by-side platform so you don't have to toggle anymore from the Challenge questions to the tutorial.  I attached a screenshot.   When it comes to written Touchstones, it might be nice to have the extra time - extensions are free and easy to manage.

That sounds perfect for me. Straighterline doesn't want to give me a refund for their Comp I course, but hopefully I can convince them to switch me to another course so that I can take Comp I through you guys. 

I just tried to find more info about the biometric keyboard verification system but couldn't find anything on Google. Did you guys get rid of the video proctoring altogether? I've never heard of the biometric keyboard verification being listed as a possible option. I actually already have an account with you guys from a couple months back, can I access the biometric keyboard option on that account? Or do I need to make a new one?

We are currently testing biometric keyboard verification at this time with those who create an account on sophia.org.  If your account was originally created on sophia.org, then you'll be set!

I am going to take English Comp 1 with Sophia.org instead of Straighterline after reading this thread. I might take Public Speaking with Sophia.org as well. How many videos do I have to upload to youtube if I take Public Speaking at Sophia.org?

Sophia's Public Speaking course requires 2 video assignments (and 2 text-based assignments).  Good luck!  : )

I wanted to bring up pricing as well. I know you're probably not the one in charge of all of that, but it's an important conversation to have. Countless times on these forums I've seen students refer their peers AWAY from Sophia all because of the pricing, because it'd be foolish (financially) to spend so much on a course we could get elsewhere, for half the price of yours. I'm having a hard time picking just 3 courses to use the 50% off coupon on, because I want so badly to take ALL of them. I simply can't afford that, and neither can most of us unconventional students. The reason we're getting an education this  way is primarily to save the money we don't have. I understand that your interface is superior, and if the keyboard verification works out you guys will be more of a competitor, but even $199 for an online course is a higher-end price. Maybe even $249 for the core courses, but that's kinda pushing it. Those prices are still more than a lot of us would be willing to pay, but it's way more reasonable. I know I personally wouldn't feel as guilty for spending the money; spending a little bit more on the provider that makes you feel more comfortable is a wise choice in my book. As an online small-business owner, I can tell you that customers will purchase from you year-round if you lower your prices a tad, and discontinue sales. Once you start offering sales, customers will wait it out until the next time you offer a better deal. Keep your prices consistent and affordable (still giving your product the credit it deserves) and in return you get more loyal customers. I know my fellow students would agree.

[Merlin]

Sophia has the best interface and "system" I have used hands down (and thumbs up to them!), I highly recommend them for as many courses as you can take that is not offered by another provider.  Their customer service is top notch as well when I needed something added or my profile changed, they were really quick to get that done.  

One thing to note, Sophia - can you work on your pricing?  I speak for myself, but others may find your pricing a tad more expensive than other providers for similar courses.  The HALFOFF coupon provided and profile switch to using Phoenix was the only option to lower the pricing to a comparable cost to some competitors such as Study.com or StraighterLine.

I agree. I prefer the course presentation style at Sophia as well. I would like to take more there, but the reason I don't is that their courses are just too expensive.

If you take two courses a month, Study.com and Straighterline average out to be roughly $100-$110 per course, and they are on the expensive side compared to Shmoop ($67/course), Davar ($65/course), Saylor ($25/course), and OnlineDegree ($9/course). All prices include proctoring fees. Sophia is far and away the highest, tripling the next lowest provider at $329 per course for most courses.

Even with the half-off deal for 3 courses, they're still $165/course for most courses, though the Foundations and Greek Philosopher's course come in at $75 each, which is a good deal at that point if your college accepts them. But then again, you can get discounts for the other providers which make them better deals as well.

All in all, with the current pricing, unless they offered a course that only exists at Sophia and that I needed for my degree, there isn't really any way for me to justify the additional expense of taking a course at Sophia since the credits are the same either way.

Now that Sophia can avoid traditional proctoring using typing heuristics, I'd imagine that should result in a small drop in price since ProctorU adds like $20-$25 per exam, but it would need to be far more of a drop to pull folks like me from Study.com and Straighterline.

[armstrongsubero]

People keep forgetting to factor in completion time for Sophia courses.

Its actually cheaper if you need the full 3.5 months to complete a course. 3.5 months membership on SL is $400 plus the price of the course. SDC would be $800 for 3.5 months. For people who are struggling with a course I cant recommend Sophia enough like for math, stats or ecomonics courses if you check it over 3.5 months $329 seems resonable and with the halfoff thats about $165 for 3.5 months to finish with payment plan. Combined with a premium platform for learning they are by far the BEST course provider out there, the platform is premium.

The business model is like ed4credit, where you pay more upfront but get a long time to finish the course.

Sophia learning you guys are awesome! How about adding some more quality courses in stuff people cant find anywhere or have trouble with? A little physics I and II, discrete math, finite math, math history, geometry, calculus...you know the good stuff people always need a long time to finish? Lol

I think too many course providers offer duplicate courses.

SOPHIA! If you guys offer courses we cant find anywhere else I know a lot of people would take classes despite the cost. I rather pay $329 for a course I cant find anywhere else at Sophia than $1098 at TESU.

[Merlin]

People keep forgetting to factor in completion time for Sophia courses.

Its actually cheaper if you need the full 3.5 months to complete a course. 3.5 months membership on SL is $400 plus the price of the course. SDC would be $800 for 3.5 months. For people who are struggling with a course I cant recommend Sophia enough like for math, stats or ecomonics courses if you check it over 3.5 months $329 seems resonable and with the halfoff thats about $165 for 3.5 months to finish with payment plan. Combined with a premium platform for learning they are by far the BEST course provider out there, the platform is premium.

For challenging courses where extra time is necessary, I agree that it would make it more enticing. But as you mention, they don't really offer any of the really tough courses. For the most part, it looks like they offer the same 100-200 level courses as everyone else.

Granted, if someone needs 2+ months to complete each course (for whatever reason), then I could see this as a benefit, but for most of the folks on the forum, the price is probably a bigger factor than the extra time.

Sophia learning you guys are awesome! How about adding some more quality courses in stuff people cant find anywhere or have trouble with? A little physics I and II, discrete math, finite math, math history, geometry, calculus...you know the good stuff people always need a long time to finish? Lol

I think too many course providers offer duplicate courses.

SOPHIA! If you guys offer courses we cant find anywhere else I know a lot of people would take classes despite the cost. I rather pay $329 for a course I cant find anywhere else at Sophia than $1098 at TESU.

I agree, if they went that way, I'd be much more interested as well. There are several other degrees I'd have considered if they had better/cheaper test-out options.

[katelynn]

Could you guys recommend some Sophia Learning courses that will count as General Education credits? I'm already doing English Comp I through SL, so that one is out. I'm going to be purchasing three of them, so just name any three Gen Ed courses. The history ones are listed as social sciences, which kind of confused me. Will those still work for my Gen Eds?

[quigongene]

The history ones are listed as social sciences, which kind of confused me. Will those still work for my Gen Eds?

Yep. Also regular sciences, history, and math.

[DIGI-212]

Could you guys recommend some Sophia Learning courses that will count as General Education

I completed 15 courses with Sophia. Loved all of them with the exception of US History 1 (dropped it! Only course I dropped on any platform!)

I highly recommend Environmental Science, Visual Communications, Psychology, and Sociology for starters. Use the “learning coach” feature if you get stumped on a challenge question.

[katelynn]

Could you guys recommend some Sophia Learning courses that will count as General Education

I completed 15 courses with Sophia. Loved all of them with the exception of US History 1 (dropped it! Only course I dropped on any platform!)

I highly recommend Environmental Science, Visual Communications, Psychology, and Sociology for starters. Use the “learning coach” feature if you get stumped on a challenge question.

Hi, thanks for all the suggestions! I didn't know Visual Communications would count as Gen Ed, I'll look into that one as well. 

I was really looking forward to taking US History 1 through them because I found Sophia Learning easiest to take notes from. I figured that would make their history courses much easier, so I'm surprised to hear you dropped it. What specifically made you not enjoy it?

[DIGI-212]

Could you guys recommend some Sophia Learning courses that will count as General Education

I completed 15 courses with Sophia. Loved all of them with the exception of US History 1 (dropped it! Only course I dropped on any platform!)

I highly recommend Environmental Science, Visual Communications, Psychology, and Sociology for starters. Use the “learning coach” feature if you get stumped on a challenge question.

Hi, thanks for all the suggestions! I didn't know Visual Communications would count as Gen Ed, I'll look into that one as well. 

I was really looking forward to taking US History 1 through them because I found Sophia Learning easiest to take notes from. I figured that would make their history courses much easier, so I'm surprised to hear you dropped it. What specifically made you not enjoy it?

Visual Communications came in as "COM231 TwoDimensional Design" in section 2 of my BALS. 

The US History course was very different from all of the other Sophia courses I took. The focus was on historical analysis rather than the story of US history.  I recommend trying the sample unit. But know when you try the sample your scores are transferred to the actual course if you buy it.

Both Economics courses are excellent. I recommend the instructor named Kate- most of the answers seemed to be from her videos. If the answer is not from her video, contact a coach and tell them you watched hers and they will tell you which other video to watch to find the answer.