Straighterline New Proctor Policy Change

[Ace_King]

I believe only the final may be proctor. Straighterline would literally go out of business if each exam is proctored. Literally! Some courses at Straighterline have like 20 exams. $30 per exam yeah right!

[submissiongrappler]

I wonder if only the Final Exam will be proctored? anyone knows exactly what they are trying to do? I doubt they will proctor all the quizzes, that would be horrible.

Based off their website, its just the final.

[JasonBrown]

It looks like Straighterline responded on their facebook page by deleting some posts and then offering a $20 off coupon thinking that is going to quiet people

[Publius]

It looks like Straighterline responded on their facebook page by deleting some posts and then offering a $20 off coupon thinking that is going to quiet people

What a joke. At least it's getting them to think. If the change in policy does go through, and and loads of people boycott SL, they'll be wanting to offer more then a $20 coupon.

[cookderosa]

Here is my FB reply from SL: StraighterLine Jennifer, Sorry you feel this way but long term this is going to benefit all students. The change will increase the value and transferability of your StraighterLine courses.

[sanantone]

I understand how the whole proctoring thing will increase acceptability, but I don't get the whole time of completion thing. If someone is finishing courses quickly because they are cheating....well....they can still cheat, just slowly. I don't know if they're worried about students absorbing the material or not. If they pass the final exam, I think they've learned it well enough.

[Ace_King]

Not only that, but if they really want to continue with a proctor, than have us choose our proctor such as a local college or university. I'm 100% uncomfortable having some one control my computer and view me through my webcam. To be honest, I don't even have a webcam. I'm going to have to invest in that as well if I ever continue with Straighterline. I have important files on my computer, w2 forms, employer files etc. I can't have anyone access my computer. No way !

[Publius]

Not only that, but if they really want to continue with a proctor, than have us choose our proctor such as a local college or university. I'm 100% uncomfortable having some one control my computer and view me through my webcam. To be honest, I don't even have a webcam. I'm going to have to invest in that as well if I ever continue with Straighterline. I have important files on my computer, w2 forms, employer files etc. I can't have anyone access my computer. No way !

Not to mention they take a picture of you and your I.D. to keep for their records. Local proctors don't do that and it's for a reason! Why does Proctor U have to take a picture of the tester and their I.D. when thousands of local proctors across the world don't do that? They can still verify through the webcam the save way they would in person. They don't need to be saving stuff.

I understand how the whole proctoring thing will increase acceptability, but I don't get the whole time of completion thing. If someone is finishing courses quickly because they are cheating....well....they can still cheat, just slowly. I don't know if they're worried about students absorbing the material or not. If they pass the final exam, I think they've learned it well enough.

You're absolutely right!
And I wonder if they forget that their tests are open book! Do you know how many questions I've come across that were directly out of the book? The book will say, "So and so does this" and a question on the test will be, "What does so and so do?" Have the the tests open book mean that you're going to go faster. And last I checked the collgeboard or prometric doesn't flag students for finishing a CLEP or DSST in under 25 minutes. People work through stuff at their own pace. That's what was nice about SL! An independent study course that you can work through on you time at your pace.
They told us that students who have finished courses "too fast" will be flagged. What's annoying though, is that they won't say how fast is to fast!

Here is my FB reply from SL: StraighterLine Jennifer, Sorry you feel this way but long term this is going to benefit all students. The change will increase the value and transferability of your StraighterLine courses.

Well guess what SL. Your courses already transferred for me. I don't need to transfer to 1000 colleges. The option of "increased value and transferability" was and is available to the schools if they wanted or required it.

[Gaz]

I don't agree with flagging accounts and forcing people to comply with something that they didn't expect upfront. However, I don't see anything wrong with proctored exams. After all, proctored exams are what brought us to this forum. I can only assume that Straighterline hit a roadblock that prompted this change. Possibly to maintain ACE status or credibility? I thought they had a nice niche' in the mix of non traditional education options, but they are about to price themselves out. For me personally, I don't have a webcam or care to learn how to use one.

[perriquit]

I get they think the classes are going to be more "respectable" and more colleges will take them in transfer.
But why just proctor U? Proctor U raises security concerns and costs more than what the average testing center.

Some public libraries are even willing to proctor for free and they you more flexibility because you don't need to schedule an appointment with more than 3 days in advance.
Proctor the final if you want but let the student select his own proctor as 99.9% of the colleges that offer proctored examinations do!