Low cost ACE reviewed history courses from Shmoop.com

[Wingz]

I have now finished the Shmoop Modern European History course with a score just above 70 (passing). I tried to do the automatic process via ACE to get the credits transcripted, but had the same issue as another person on this forum. Shmoop isn't yet set up for the automatic process. They told me it should be a couple days and then it will work.

As for the course itself, ACE says it takes 30 hours to complete, and I would say that is fairly accurate. I don't know anything about European history (I suppose I learned some in high school, but that was 40 years ago). Anyway, the course did require reading all the material, clicking most of the supplementary links and watching most of the linked videos. Still, it was entertaining and interesting, and I did learn the material.

For reference, I have been doing this alternative credit process for quite a while, and have taken courses in Study.com, Sophia, Straighterline, ALEKS, Edx/ASU, TEEX, Institute of Insurance, Saylor and taken DSST, CLEP's and TECEPs, so I'm quite familiar with all ways of getting credit. I would say that the course (for me) is more thorough than any of the formats (except maybe EdX/ASU and Saylor), and more difficult to pass. However, it is faster to complete than most as well.

The fact that there isn't proctoring for the final, does make me wonder though if they will need to address that. While "cheating" is possible (by googling or whatever), I don't think that will help (because test questions are so specific to the material). However, there is nothing preventing someone from cheating by allowing another person to take the course on their behalf, and I personally find that unacceptable.

There are pros and cons to this format, and it all depends on what kind of learner you are.

Pros
Grade based on chapter quizzes and a final - all cumulative - so it is not all stakes on one test
You can take each quiz and final twice if you want (different questions though)
No proctoring - so no hassles with systems and scheduling
Fairly entertaining
Mostly reading (which I like)
Boiled down 200 years of history into 30 hours of reading
Open course - allows you to review course during test (best I can tell this is allowed)

Cons
Quiz questions are VERY specific to the reading (annoyingly so), and are less "big picture", but rather testing to see if you read the material
Search function doesn't work well at all
Typos and broken links
ACE process still needs to be ironed out
All reading - lots of text (which may be a turn off for some)
Only way to pass is to go back through the course and ferret out the answers (after having read everything)
You have to take all quizzes and tests to complete the course - no shortcuts, no speed reading - it is a full course
No proctoring - so cheating could occur