Ed4Credit.com has 27 new ACE approved courses

[AJ_Atlanta]

I have a friend that is interested in taking courses, and he has no college credits. He is brand new, and might struggle a little bit with a quiz here or there. So, with the possibility that he might get a bad grade on a single quiz and fail the course, there is no way he should sign up for an Ed4Credit course because of this grading system, especially with the higher cost of the courses.

jsd - I get that you think that this is not a high bar, but this is not a bar that is set for any other course than I can think of, including a course at a B&M school! You should be allowed to fail a single quiz and still pass a class if you do ok on the rest of the quizzes, midterm and final.

So an oddball grade scheme and higher costs for classes that you can get from multiple sources - not exactly a winning business model, will be interesting to see how this plays out over time...

[cookderosa]

They allow you to fail each quiz once and still pass the class. If a real college course did that, it'd be laughable.

The finer distinction is that each quiz is 100% of your grade.
You can pass all 9 out of your 10 quizzes and fail this course.
If you took 10 CLEP exams and passed 9 out of 10, you'd have credit for 9 of them.
My outrage is not that I think being allowed to fail each quiz should be allowed, rather that scoring 100% perfectly on EVERY quiz carries no points forward.

Sample A:
quiz 1 (10%) score 100% = 100 points
quiz 2 (10%) score 100% = 100 points
quiz 3 (10%) score 100% = 100 points
quiz 4 (10%) score 100% = 100 points
quiz 5 (10%) score 100% = 100 points
quiz 6 (10%) score 100% = 100 points
quiz 7 (10%) score 100% = 100 points
quiz 8 (10%) score 100% = 100 points
quiz 9 (10%) score 100% = 100 points
final exam (10%) score 49% = FAIL ENTIRE COURSE *despite the student having earned 949 points (94.9%) which is an A by any university standards.

Their rubric is flawed.

[jsd]

Which is why they give you a retake for free. I get your point, it's odd but I just don't think it's egregious.

By the way, if someone gets 100% on 9 quizzes but still fails the final, something went wrong. They didn't learn the material (that's mostly a joke, I know you were using an extreme example).

[dfrecore]

The finer distinction is that each quiz is 100% of your grade.
You can pass all 9 out of your 10 quizzes and fail this course.
If you took 10 CLEP exams and passed 9 out of 10, you'd have credit for 9 of them.
My outrage is not that I think being allowed to fail each quiz should be allowed, rather that scoring 100% perfectly on EVERY quiz carries no points forward.

Sample A:
quiz 1 (10%) score 100% = 100 points
quiz 2 (10%) score 100% = 100 points
quiz 3 (10%) score 100% = 100 points
quiz 4 (10%) score 100% = 100 points
quiz 5 (10%) score 100% = 100 points
quiz 6 (10%) score 100% = 100 points
quiz 7 (10%) score 100% = 100 points
quiz 8 (10%) score 100% = 100 points
quiz 9 (10%) score 100% = 100 points
final exam (10%) score 49% = FAIL ENTIRE COURSE *despite the student having earned 949 points (94.9%) which is an A by any university standards.

Their rubric is flawed.

I think a worse example is:

Quiz 1 score 49%, retake 49% (maybe a technical issue, maybe you haven't taken a college course before and don't "get it" yet) - FAIL THE ENTIRE COURSE! You don't even get to see what the rest of the course is about, don't get time to get your feet wet, nothing.

I remember that with Sophia, you had to get at least a 70% on the final, but I thought it was easier than the "milestones" (exams basically, as opposed to quizzes). But, you could request a retake if you didn't pass, and pay $25 to retake it. So it was a little less high-stakes than it sounds. Otherwise, you had to get 70% overall on the course to pass. So you could bomb a quiz or two and still pass the course.

[jsd]

I think a worse example is:

Quiz 1 score 49%, retake 49% (maybe a technical issue, maybe you haven't taken a college course before and don't "get it" yet) - FAIL THE ENTIRE COURSE! You don't even get to see what the rest of the course is about, don't get time to get your feet wet, nothing.

I don't think someone who can't learn the material after two cracks at it deserves the benefit of the doubt. Do some independent study on the topic and try a different method of course that works for you. Two fails means you don't get it.

[Mamasaphire]

I don't think someone who can't learn the material after two cracks at it deserves the benefit of the doubt. Do some independent study on the topic and try a different method of course that works for you. Two fails means you don't get it.

On one hand I agree with your thinking, but on the other I don't think that these high stake quizzes should then be called quizzes (which in academia traditionally constitute a portion of a final grade).

Putting so much potential value on a "quiz" makes it more like taking multiple TECEPs (or CLEPs/DSSTs, etc) just for 3 credits. I push myself and even on P/F courses like to get an A total score if I can, and I consider myself a diligent student, however, having multiple chances to fail a course before even reaching the final exam seems like a very high pressure recipe for much higher anxiety than I'd ever choose to put myself through.

The way SL course grading is set up makes a lot more sense overall.

[KayV]

I don't think someone who can't learn the material after two cracks at it deserves the benefit of the doubt. Do some independent study on the topic and try a different method of course that works for you. Two fails means you don't get it.

Trying a different method of course is fine, but why waste money in the first place on a system that seems designed to make people fail? Why put that much stress on yourself or your child?

[jsd]

Because you should know the material, not be looking for an easy way out. I would feel comfortable being allowed to fail every single quiz and still have an opportunity to pass th course by taking them all a second time.

[cookderosa]

I don't think someone who can't learn the material after two cracks at it deserves the benefit of the doubt. Do some independent study on the topic and try a different method of course that works for you. Two fails means you don't get it.

Were you contracted by them to write their rubric? LOL

Seriously, no college has such a ridiculous grading scheme, which means that no one working for ed4credit has any experience teaching or taking college level course work. That alone should be cause for concern.

[KayV]

I guess it's good to have options. For a homeschooler who is having their child try a class, it might be daunting to know that if their child fails the first quiz twice- even if the score improves the second time- they have failed the entire course, wasted their money, and left their kid with an overwhelming sense of discouragement.