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+--- Thread: Straighterline New Proctor Policy Change (/Thread-Straighterline-New-Proctor-Policy-Change)
Straighterline New Proctor Policy Change - bldclot2 - 10-07-2012
Gaz Wrote:However, I don't see anything wrong with proctored exams.
Gaz,
If you read all the post's one of the biggest gripes is with having to pay $30 more to have another company watch you take the exam, why can't we use our own local proctor which will most likely cost less and be less intrusive. In some instances getting your local librarian to proctor your exam might even be free of charge. Even TESC allows you to select your own proctor, as long as they fit the bill.
Also I don't believe that a roadblock prompted this change. If this was the case SL would have given their loyal customers the choice of finding their own qualified proctor to curb the cost of having to pay $30 more dollars to Proctor U. Most will say "oh it's just $30 dollars, get over it" but if you look at most forum member's signature block, you will find that on average they have taken 3 to 4 courses with SL, If proctoring was in place when they took those classes it would have cost them an additional $90-$120 dollars, that's the cost of another CLEP/DSST or 3 more SL courses.
This change is more about money making, than anything else. Look, Im pretty confident in saying that SL makes no money from partnering with colleges and universities, because most public institutions won't pay to partner up with a company, it's usually the other way around. Companies pay to partner up with colleges and universities, or at the very least make no cost agreements to partner up and provide a service. Furthermore Proctor U is a company and Straighterline is a company, when two companies partner up it usually means that they will try and make money together, doesn't it? SL will surely get some cut of the proctoring fee, is this scenario feasible or am I just a simpleton.
-bldclot2
Straighterline New Proctor Policy Change - submissiongrappler - 10-07-2012
Publius Wrote: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!
Let's not forget the ability to download the Test Bank manual for Econ. 1 and 2. I stumbled acrossed it as I was trying to "prove" to SL that several of their ECON questions were incorrect.
Very tedious process too boot.
Straighterline New Proctor Policy Change - bldclot2 - 10-07-2012
Does anyone have a twitter account? I found the CEO of Straighterline, let's say hello.
https://twitter.com/burck
Straighterline New Proctor Policy Change - Ace_King - 10-07-2012
Bldclot2 that would be a very good idea. Reminds me when I used to play Everquest 1 on the mac and Sony wanted to shut it down. They gave us an expiration date on the game until many of the old players hit twitter to complain and Sony decided to not take the game off the market.
I think when a company gets a lot of bad reviews on their social media page they are aware they are in big big trouble. Bank of America customers hit BoA's facebook page regarding the $5 a month fee and finally BoA decided to take it away.
Don't know if Straighterline will ever reverse this call, but look how Penn Foster succeeded. They allow us to pick our own proctor and they didn't charge students for that. Penn Foster still remains low for college level ACE courses and or industrial courses.
Straighterline New Proctor Policy Change - Gaz - 10-07-2012
bldclot2 Wrote:Gaz,
If you read all the post's one of the biggest gripes is with having to pay $30 more to have another company watch you take the exam, why can't we use our own local proctor which will most likely cost less and be less intrusive. In some instances getting your local librarian to proctor your exam might even be free of charge. Even TESC allows you to select your own proctor, as long as they fit the bill. -bldclot2
I agree, that is why I said they are about to price themselves out. The reasoning behind taking a Straighterline course, for most of us, is that we can finish at least two in a month. That makes their cost competitive with CLEP, DSST and ECE. That will no longer be the case. I can only imagine that we are not their primary target market. If so, someone is going to get fired in a few months.
Straighterline New Proctor Policy Change - cookderosa - 10-07-2012
SL posted more to my Facebook comments:
Thumbs WAY DOWN on new proctoring policy
Like ·
4 people like this.
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.
Yesterday at 9:41pm · Like
Jennifer Cook DeRosa if the exams are still open book, this changes nothing for anyone, except adding a layer of cost and annoyance.
12 hours ago · Like
StraighterLine Jennifer Cook DeRosa Undoubtedly, online proctoring is an additional expense and an inconvenience, and, for that, we are sorry. However, despite our best efforts, some students cheat. This happens in every college and is particularly prevalent in online courses. Cheating strategies include plagiarism, having others take exams, copying and sharing or selling test items, taking exams in groups and more. Because a college or employer that accepts StraighterLine credit cannot differentiate between a student that cheated and a student that did not, all students are forced to adhere to basic academic credibility safeguards.
11 hours ago · Like
Straighterline New Proctor Policy Change - bldclot2 - 10-07-2012
Here's some info on the 28 day billing cycle from ehow.
Length of a Billing Cycles
Not every billing cycle is the same. A billing cycle can run 30 days for your VISA credit card or between 25 to 35 days for your electricity utilities billing cycle in Texas. Consider the effect of a credit card billing cycle of 28 days versus a 30-day cycle. With the 28-day cycle, you will have 13 billing cycles during the year instead of 12 on a normal monthly billing cycle. The extra payment per year often goes unnoticed by most consumers.
Impact of Shorter Cycles
Billing cycles are never arbitrarily determined. Most companies calculate the optimum billing cycle for their customers to produce the best return for their business. A shorter billing cycle can be advantageous for a number of reasons. They can collect more money, quicker.
So, this is what Straighterline is doing, making more money from their loyal customers. Shameful!
Read more: How Long Is a Billing Cycle? | eHow.com How Long Is a Billing Cycle? | eHow.com
Straighterline New Proctor Policy Change - StraighterLine Team - 10-08-2012
To all of our customers, we will have a response shortly today with more information on our upcoming changes about requiring proctoring examinations. We will address how the changes will impact you. A lot of assumptions that have been made will be addressed.
-StraighterLine
Straighterline New Proctor Policy Change - StraighterLine Team - 10-08-2012
In attempts to improve academic integrity StraighterLine will effective November 1st require all students to use proctoring for each course's final exam. This only affects courses purchased on or after November 1st, 2012. Pricing for the $99 subscription model currently requires a one-time $39 registration fee. It will raise to $49 to accommodate the cost. Pricing models for $399 a la carte and $999 Freshman year will see no pricing changes. CEO Burck Smith wrote a letter with the full announcement and details and can be viewed here: StraighterLine’s New Online Proctoring Policy | Burck Smith's CEO Corner
Straighterline New Proctor Policy Change - cookderosa - 10-08-2012
StraighterLine’s New Online Proctoring Policy
Posted on October 8, 2012
Dear StraighterLine Student:
Recently we announced that StraighterLine will begin requiring proctored final exams. Originally this policy was to apply to any college credit earned after November 1, 2012. However, after talking with many of our students, we have changed the policy such that it will apply to any course purchased on or after November 1, 2012.
We understand that online proctoring is an additional expense and an inconvenience for some of you. As founder and CEO of StraighterLine, I am writing to explain the reason behind the new policy and to clarify some of the misconceptions that have been created.
Despite our best efforts, some students cheat. This is prevalent across higher education and is particularly prevalent in online courses. Cheating methods include plagiarism, having others take exams, copying and sharing or selling test items, taking exams in groups, searching for test answers during exams and more.
As you are aware, until now, StraighterLine has offered optional proctoring. Those students who wished to transfer credits to colleges requiring proctoring could purchase a proctoring session. This would be noted on the student’s transcript. Those who were transferring to a college that did not require proctoring, did not need to make that same purchase. Unfortunately, the overall result has been that some students still cheat, boast about it, and post about it on the Internet. I think you will agree that such cheating diminishes the credibility and acceptance of the StraighterLine credits for everyone.
Some of you have noted that many colleges don’t care whether an exam is proctored. Frankly, you’re right – some colleges have ignored many of the safeguards necessary to insure academic credibility. In fact, the only identification requirement for accredited colleges is for the student to have a username and password – clearly, a requirement with limited effectiveness. Undoubtedly, the growth of alternative and more affordable ways to earn college credit will spur more colleges to tighten up their policies and procedures.
It’s important to note that this policy change has nothing to do with profit generation for StraighterLine. We have and will institute a number of changes to demonstrate this. Starting on November 1st, the per-course price will rise from $39 to $49 and all courses will include a proctoring session (currently $30 a la carte). The price will not rise for those students purchasing $399 or $999 packages.
I would also like to address a few other concerns that we’ve heard. First, this policy does not affect the self-paced nature of StraighterLine’s courses. Our subscription pricing model was created to reward students capable of completing rapidly and to diminish the financial risk to students who must pause or stop. Required proctoring will provide even greater confidence in test results when students move quickly.
Second, ProctorU, the company that provides our online proctoring, is used by hundreds of colleges to perform this service. While an online proctoring session does require providing access to your computer to a third party, this is a common practice among colleges, including many of our largest transfer partners. Already, many of StraighterLine partners require online proctoring to appear on StraighterLine’s transcript, and hundreds of sessions have been scheduled and provided without incident.
Third, we will be working to provide a seamless place-based proctoring option as well. In the meantime, if a student can provide evidence of trusted local proctoring, we will accept that as fulfilling the requirement.
Fourth, proctoring is only required for final exams; and
Fifth, proctoring will only apply to courses purchased on or after November 1, 2012.
While we regret the concern this new mandatory proctoring policy may have caused some of our students, I hope you can see that it is driven by our goal to ensure academic credibility. After careful consideration, we are convinced that required proctoring is in the best interests of the majority of StraighterLine students. I hope you agree and thank you for your understanding.
Sincerely,
Burck Smith
Founder and CEO