Publius Wrote:What else bothers me is that under the $99 a month plan, they're increasing the courses from $39 to $49. I almost started liking SL better then CLEPs and DSSTs because how it paced and how cost effective it was. Not anymore for sure.

Publius Wrote:What else bothers me is that under the $99 a month plan, they're increasing the courses from $39 to $49. I almost started liking SL better then CLEPs and DSSTs because how it paced and how cost effective it was. Not anymore for sure.

IrishJohn Wrote:If anything this policy change by SL, along with the damage control its reps have been engaging in, have made me rethink what I would do if I needed any of the courses they offer. SL's reps here have talked about how their courses provide opportunities for folks to take their time in completing them at a cheaper cost than regular college courses. There is still some truth to that. However, given their limited transferrability along with the new proctoring requirements and the prospect of turning one's own personal computer over to a stranger for the finals, it seems to me a better approach to obtaining these credits is warranted. Seems to me that it would be wiser to take the FREE course at Saylor.org (or other similar site), use IC and other online resources and then just take the CLEP or DSST. That is even cheaper than SL without the nonsense and the credits earned are far more transferrable. After all, you have to take a proctored exam whether you use SL or take the CLEP/DSST exams so why not go for the latter now? $100 max (including proctor fee) in most cases for each CLEP/DSST exam vs. at least $139 for SL's less transferrable ACE-approved course. Seems like a no-brainer to me.

IrishJohn Wrote:I'm assuming that at least a pass on the final exam will be required or folks will be able to do exactly as you say here. If SL hasn't figured this out yet I'm sure they will shortly. Giving more weight to the final would probably solve that. I don't have a problem with that, it's mainly that the way they went about making their changes in policy raised a helluva lot of red flags for me - not to mention that I found it to be an extremely offensive attack on my integrity. I mean heck, they encouraged folks to take as many courses as they wanted to in a month-billing cycle but saying one can be flagged for that later on as possible evidence of cheating well, that was a bit much IMO.

Quote:OverviewEdit

StraighterLine is a U.S. educational company that offers low-price, online higher education courses that are equivalent to general courses required for a bachelor's degree. The American Council On Education’s College Credit Recommendation Service (ACE CREDIT) has evaluated and recommended college credit for StraighterLine courses.[SL 1]The company is itself unaccredited, but has partnerships with a number of accredited colleges and universities that accept its courses for credit.[1]

CoursesEdit

The company primarily offers McGraw-Hill course content delivered via a Blackboardlearning management system, very similar to the delivery model used by many online colleges and universities.[2] StraighterLine offers the students the ability to take any number of online college courses for $99 a month plus $39 a course, or ten courses (marketed as the equivalent of an entire freshman year) for $999.

StraighterLine offers 38 courses as of August, 2012 including: Introductory Algebra, College Algebra, Precalculus, Developmental Writing, English Composition I, English Composition II, Accounting I, Accounting II, Economics I, Economics II, Business Statistics, Business Communications, General Chemistry I, Introductory Biology for Non-Majors, Managerial Accounting, Anatomy and Physiology I, Anatomy and Physiology II, Intro. To Psychology, Medical Terminology, Intro. to Business, Western Civ I, Criminal Justice, Personal Finance, Intro to Nutrition, Pharmacology I, Pharmacology II, Intro to Sociology, Student Success, US History I, General Calculus I, General Calculus II, General Physics I, Business Ethics, and Organizational Behavior. [SL 2]

Recently the company announced strategic partnerships with the Educational Testing Service and the makers of the Collegiate Learning Assessment, as part of a plan to expand into offering validated tests from leading educational organizations.[3]




PartnersEdit

The school began operations in 2009 and reported serving more than 4,000 students through 2011. As of January 2012, StraighterLine's reported partner colleges included Albany State University, American College of Dubai, American InterContinental University, Argosy University, Ashford University, Bay State College, Capella University, Charter Oak State College, Colorado State University Global Campus, Concordia University, DeVry University, Excelsior College, Fisher College, Granite State College, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, Jefferson Community and Technical College, Kaplan University, Kendall College, KNEXT, La Salle University,LearningCounts.org, Liberty University, New England College of Business, Northern Virginia Community College, Potomac College,Strayer University, SUNY Empire State College, Thomas Edison State College, University of Maryland University College, University of the Incarnate Word, University of Phoenix, and Western Governors University at Indiana, Texas, and, Washington. Previous college partners include Assumption College, Fort Hays State University, Nazarene Bible College, Thompson Rivers University and University of Akron.[SL 3]




HistoryEdit

The company was founded in 2008 as a division of Smarthinking, Inc., an online tutoring provider, and was spun out in 2010, shortly before Smarthinking was acquired by Pearson PLC. In 2011, the company was named one of "The 10 Most Innovative Companies in Education" by Fast Company (magazine).[4] StraighterLine has had multiple rounds of investment, and in April of 2012 received a 10-million dollar investment. Investors include: FirstMark Capital, CityLight Capital, and Chrysalis Ventures.[SL 4]

The company is growing rapidly, in January of 2012 StraighterLine was at 11 employees, by July of 2012 it was at 22.[5]

[edit]CEOEdit
CEO Burck Smith
Burck Smith is the CEO and founder of StraighterLine. Ten years before launching StraighterLine in 2009, he co-founded SMARTHINKING, the largest online tutoring provider for schools and colleges.[SL 5]

IrishJohn Wrote:Check this out, some hack at Straighterline I presume has completely edited the entry on SL at Degree Forum Wiki to remove any negative comments and make it sound like a sales pitch:



Wow. They are digging themselves deeper and deeper into a big hole as far as Bad PR goes. I've just reinserted my earlier comments on alternatives and will continue to do no matter how many times some flack from SL edits that page.