Test Banks and Automated Education

[UptonSinclair]

Many people look down their nose at alternative forms of higher education. The biggest appeal of the Big 3 is they are willing to accept CLEP, DSST, ACE, Aleks, etc liberally. Those who reject these methods often talk a good game, but fail to live up to the hype. Take Aleks for instance. This publisher created program teaches a subject and tests students on the subjects taught. Contrast that to a course where you read from a publisher's textbook and take an exam based on questions from the publisher's test bank. Am I the only one who thinks this is crazy? If a student pays tuition, are they not entitled to more than a glorified textbook proctor?

While preparing for CLEPs and DSSTs, my wife and I use free online lectures from schools like Yale, Berkley, MIT, Stanford, etc. The aspect of these lectures that stands out the most is primary sources. The materials referenced are often readings from primary sources. You don't see Yale professors saying, "turn to page 153 in Cengage textbook." Most colleges I have dealt with have turned eduction into little more than an Aleks-like experience while they reject the legitimacy of resources like Aleks.

It is easy to see why the Ivies can charge a premium. Thankfully, they are gracious enough to make many of those resources available to people like us.

[sanantone]

Several colleges use ALEKS for remedial courses. In my graduate courses, I haven't encountered professors lecturing from textbooks, but maybe this is because these are traditional, senior colleges. All of my professors have published their own stuff, but they also like to use the peer-reviewed articles of others. In my community college courses, most of my quizzes and exams were either designed by the instructor or the department.