Shmoop proctoring

[jsd]

Yeah, RPNow (what study.com uses) should be giving PrcotorU and Examity a run for their money. The user experience is far superior. I’m surprised it hasn’t caught on more.

[Merlin]

Hopefully with proctored finals TESU will change their mind. Wish they would have gone with Study.com's proctor instead of ProctorU.....Headache coming on!

Yeah, I also prefer the Remote Proctor Now service to ProctorU, but there are advantages and disadvantages to both. Since Shmoop wanted to do this ASAP, they probably went with ProctorU since they are the more commonly used proctoring service, and I expect are much easier to implement since it is all real-time with live proctors.

I would like to see all these credit providers give students the choice of which proctor service they wish to use, but it's much more work (and therefore more costly to implement).

[xjarhead1999]

Well, Shady implies they are trying to mislead or take advantage of people. I don't think that is the case here.

They very well did mislead people. Right up until the moment they implemented the proctoring, their website stated that it was the $88 a month and you can earn credit. There was zero mention of any type of proctoring. Zero mention of any type of fees. Their site even went on to say how at the $88 a month you would be spending less than $1k a year and bragging about how that was so much cheaper than regular college.
A person could have signed up with that understanding then just a few hours later find out it will cost an additional $25 or whatever per class. That is a basic bait and switch claim.
I would guess that there are a bunch of angry customers. I know if i had redone my subscription like I was considering I would have been rather irate. I also would have been filing a claim against them if they didn't refund my money.
I had been cautiously recommending shmoop to some people. I won't be doing that anymore. Their courses are crap. The only advantage they offered was the cheap price. The "shmoopiness" ruins the whole education experience. It was barely worth the $88 a month, definitely not worth that and another $25 per class.
I'm guessing they will make even less off their ACE courses now

[Merlin]

Well, Shady implies they are trying to mislead or take advantage of people. I don't think that is the case here.

They very well did mislead people. Right up until the moment they implemented the proctoring, their website stated that it was the $88 a month and you can earn credit. There was zero mention of any type of proctoring. Zero mention of any type of fees. Their site even went on to say how at the $88 a month you would be spending less than $1k a year and bragging about how that was so much cheaper than regular college.
A person could have signed up with that understanding then just a few hours later find out it will cost an additional $25 or whatever per class. That is a basic bait and switch claim.
I would guess that there are a bunch of angry customers. I know if i had redone my subscription like I was considering I would have been rather irate. I also would have been filing a claim against them if they didn't refund my money.
I had been cautiously recommending shmoop to some people. I won't be doing that anymore. Their courses are crap. The only advantage they offered was the cheap price. The "shmoopiness" ruins the whole education experience. It was barely worth the $88 a month, definitely not worth that and another $25 per class.
I'm guessing they will make even less off their ACE courses now

If they were intentionally hiding this information to gain some advantage or adding proctoring to make more profit, then you might be vindicated in the bait and switch claim. But that extra $23 goes to ProctorU, not to Shmoop. They are effectively saying you still pay Shmoop $88 for unlimited courses per month, but if you want college credit you have to pay for your own proctoring via ProctorU, and they are passing along their discount to you at $23 per course. The implication is that they are being forced into this by schools like TESU/WGU who are demanding better test security and to enforce academic integrity.

Again, I agree it was a poor choice to implement it without any warning, and I'm pretty sure someone could ask for a refund if they just signed up and don't want to pay the extra $23 for proctored exams. I suspect that whoever made the call probably didn't even think about it being a problem. But again, we knew it was coming... we just didn't know how soon. So, none of us on this forum can really complain too loudly.

As for the ROI, as long as you take two or more courses per month, they are still one of the most cost-effective ways to earn college credit on a per-credit basis, and it only gets better the more courses you take per month. Yes, their format (the "shmoopiness") and the content of their course material is pretty terrible, but that is subjective... there must be some people who actually like it. Also keep in mind that some of the courses they offer aren't available from the other online providers (like History of Technology and Human Sexuality, for example), which gives them a higher value if you're someone who needs or wants those courses and don't want (or can't find them) to take them from another college. If you're just looking to take standard GenEd stuff, there are a ton of other options. In those cases, you're better off going with Study.com or Straighterline if you don't like the format, or go with Saylor if you want a better price.

If TESU and WGU start allowing their courses again after this goes into effect, I suspect more people will be interested in their courses. Heck, while there is nothing I need for my degree from Shmoop, there are few uncommon courses that I'd consider taking from them, but just to further my own academic interests. Even with proctoring, they're still cheaper than Study.com and Straighterline when taken in bulk, so it could still be worth the effort to me.

[dfrecore]

Well, Shady implies they are trying to mislead or take advantage of people. I don't think that is the case here.

Their site even went on to say how at the $88 a month you would be spending less than $1k a year and bragging about how that was so much cheaper than regular college.
A person could have signed up with that understanding then just a few hours later find out it will cost an additional $25 or whatever per class. That is a basic bait and switch claim.

The only think you've lost is $88, so if they don't refund the money, it would be more work to try to sue them than it was worth.  Your best bet would be to tell them you'll be posting on every website you can find about the bad experience, if they don't give you a refund.

And as was stated, the extra $23 per exam doesn't even go to them, it goes to ProctorU, so they're not getting anything by doing this.

They should just give refunds to everyone who wants them.  That would be by far the easiest solution to the problem.

[xjarhead1999]

They don't owe me anything. I'm just saying they done all this in a shady way. They advertised one thing then changed it without warning to people.
What they done would be pretty close to a situation where if TESU had said they wouldn't have allowed shmoop courses that they had already approved for people.

[jsd]

I dot think it was shady, I think it was disorganized and irresponsible. Luckily I don’t ever need any Shmoop courses myself

[mvk]

Got this email from Shmoop

Hey, Shmoopers,
You asked, so we delivered: we're introducing live proctored tests in our ACE CREDIT recommended courses. All Final Exams will now be proctored.
Each final's proctoring session is $23.

Ready for even more good news? If you take a proctored Shmoop exam over the next month, your first session is on us. We'll credit $23 back on your Shmoop subscription fees.* To claim your credit, email support@shmoop.com with your username and proctor date/time, and once we've verified the details we will credit your account.

Still have questions? We've got you covered.

Why did you add proctoring?
Shmoop may be in the business of being funny, but there's no room for funny business when it comes to academic integrity. Many schools are beginning to look for increased security measures (like proctoring) before they decide to accept transfer credit from content providers (like us). So by bumping up our security a bit, we're hoping to expand the opportunities students have to transfer their coursework from Shmoop.

Are the courses still self-paced?
You bet. With proctoring provided by the folks at ProctorU, there are no time restrictions on when you can schedule your final exam sessions. So it's still entirely up to you to choose when you take an exam, where you take an exam (as long as you're the only one in the room), and what you wear to take an exam. Your proctor is gonna love those stylish kitten pajamas.

What about my online privacy?
Taking an exam with the reputable ProctorU isn't so different from taking a test in a real-life classroom. Your online proctor definitely isn't going to cramp your style—or peek at your personal files while you take your test. Pinky promise. Check out the Security/Privacy FAQs here to get the scoop straight from the source.

Any info about Shmoop courses at Thomas Edison State University?
Our fingers are crossed that they'll be big fans of our shiny new proctoring feature like we are, but at this time we do not have an update on whether or not TESU will accept Shmoop courses again. Feel free to check in with an advisor at TESU directly if you have any questions about that. We'll also be sure to give you a shout when we hear anything new.

Whenever you're ready to start Shmooping again, check to see if your equipment supports proctoring.

If you have any additional questions, please give us a shout at support@shmoop.com.

Happy testing!

*User must have a paid subscription at time of proctoring, and proctoring session must occur between June 30, 2018 and July 31, 2018.

[jsd]

“You asked, so we delivered”

Sure, I bet users were just begging them non stop for proctoring.

[Merlin]

“You asked, so we delivered”

Sure, I bet users were just begging them non stop for proctoring.

I'm sure that none of the people who were taking advantage of the lack of proctoring to burn through the Shmoop courses at a rapid pace (which is how the TESU ban came to be in the first place) asked for this. But, I know there are people from this forum who asked Shmoop about adding proctoring in response to the TESU ban. I suspect there are others from TESU, WGU, and other schools that previously did not accept Shmoop credits due to the lack of proctoring who may have also inquired, or at least are happy to see this change.

Personally, I'm happy to see it. Anything that helps to improve the credibility of our degrees is a win in my book.