05-10-2016, 04:37 PM
FYI, I'm in the IT Fundamentals course now.. I started it a few days ago. There are about 21 exams if memory serves, and they're done through some CM "acrobatiq" thing rather than the normal SL interface. If it just stopped here, it'd just be annoying, but as it is -- I really can't recommend the course.
Problem 1: Much of the material is written in a way that makes me question the author being a native English speaker. Not good for a college course.
Problem 2: The material is often *blatantly* wrong.
I don't mean wrong in the "I'm a clever snowflake and I like to argue with my teacher" way of being wrong, I mean wrong in an objective mathematically/scientifically provable way wrong.
At one point, in module 9, you're shown an example of a fully connected mesh network. Six nodes, each one connected to each other. Quick, how many connections is that?! The right answer is 15, and you can draw it out and count them yourself if you don't know the formula. You could even "brute force" it without drawing it.. the first node will connect to 5 others, the next node has 4 new connections... 5+4+3+2+1 = 15. The formula for this is actually a "complete graph" : (n(n-1))/2. It's also the same as saying sigma n-1.
The text says it's (n-1)^2 and, right next to the drawing, says there are 25 lines in the drawing. Then the author amazes you by pointing out that a 50 node mesh would require 2401 connections -- which is, again, completely wrong. 1225 is the correct answer.
Other blatant mistakes are made through the entire course, but they're not as easy to demonstrate.
I'm continuing with it, since I already forked over my $75, but I strongly recommend avoiding it for anyone that actually wants to learn anything.
Problem 1: Much of the material is written in a way that makes me question the author being a native English speaker. Not good for a college course.
Problem 2: The material is often *blatantly* wrong.
I don't mean wrong in the "I'm a clever snowflake and I like to argue with my teacher" way of being wrong, I mean wrong in an objective mathematically/scientifically provable way wrong.
At one point, in module 9, you're shown an example of a fully connected mesh network. Six nodes, each one connected to each other. Quick, how many connections is that?! The right answer is 15, and you can draw it out and count them yourself if you don't know the formula. You could even "brute force" it without drawing it.. the first node will connect to 5 others, the next node has 4 new connections... 5+4+3+2+1 = 15. The formula for this is actually a "complete graph" : (n(n-1))/2. It's also the same as saying sigma n-1.
The text says it's (n-1)^2 and, right next to the drawing, says there are 25 lines in the drawing. Then the author amazes you by pointing out that a 50 node mesh would require 2401 connections -- which is, again, completely wrong. 1225 is the correct answer.
Other blatant mistakes are made through the entire course, but they're not as easy to demonstrate.
I'm continuing with it, since I already forked over my $75, but I strongly recommend avoiding it for anyone that actually wants to learn anything.
TESU BSBA/GenMgmt, Graduation approved for March 2017
CR Sources: 75cr(StraighterLine), 15cr(Saylor), 6cr(ALEKS), 6cr(Kaplan, TESU), 12cr(PF), 6cr(CLEP)
CR Sources: 75cr(StraighterLine), 15cr(Saylor), 6cr(ALEKS), 6cr(Kaplan, TESU), 12cr(PF), 6cr(CLEP)
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