OnlineDegree.com Is Finally Open

[BSBRose21]

I've stayed away from NCCRS courses since there isn't a way to bank them. I do want to try some of these though. One thing that bugs me is the video watching requirements. I prefer to read. I can read the information faster than watching it. I understand and retain it better too.

Yeah, I'm the same. I skip all the videos on Study.com as well. People who are actively taking classes with OnlineDegree.com may want to send feedback and express their preferences. Who knows, if enough people request it, maybe they'll add an easy way to do that and still get credit for the participation and proper completion.

I just sent my feedback. I'm frustrated with the videos - it is hard to keep watching!

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Here is the response I received about frustration with the videos.


Thank you for the kind words, and I'm sorry to hear that.  Yes, we are trying to make this accessible and interesting for as many people across the country who need it.  We chose videos because the multimedia medium is most similar to a classroom lecture.  For online courses our students wanted that professor and lecture environment.  
Currently, we don't have transcriptions...it's a nice suggestion though, and Ill pass that along.  In the meantime, my suggestion would be to keep at it!  Thank you.

[TexasTink]

I've stayed away from NCCRS courses since there isn't a way to bank them. I do want to try some of these though. One thing that bugs me is the video watching requirements. I prefer to read. I can read the information faster than watching it. I understand and retain it better too.

Yeah, I'm the same. I skip all the videos on Study.com as well. People who are actively taking classes with OnlineDegree.com may want to send feedback and express their preferences. Who knows, if enough people request it, maybe they'll add an easy way to do that and still get credit for the participation and proper completion.

For those videos that are required to watch, do they offer a transcript of the lesson?  I can’t find one.

As far as I can tell, all videos are required and there are no transcripts in sight.

I'd be curious to see if they ever did transcripts.  For the class I'm currently taking, they're using FSU videos for the main "lecture" and then just pulling random videos off YouTube.  So I feel like transcripts would be harder to put together.

[Merlin]

For those videos that are required to watch, do they offer a transcript of the lesson?  I can’t find one.

As far as I can tell, all videos are required and there are no transcripts in sight.

I'd be curious to see if they ever did transcripts.  For the class I'm currently taking, they're using FSU videos for the main "lecture" and then just pulling random videos off YouTube.  So I feel like transcripts would be harder to put together.

Hmm, I thought closed captioning (or transcripts) were required for educational materials to support hearing impaired students? So while there may not be transcripts there should be closed captions. (Which can be downloaded and used as a transcript.) Then again, maybe that is only for public funded education resources. In any case, if they don't they could (and should) pay a transcript or captioning service to do this for each of their videos. Heck, they could probably crowdsource it with the right outreach, and get it done cheap or free.

[acamp]

Has anyone completed a course on Online Degree yet?    If so, what were your thoughts on the experience of the class, lectures, quizzes, proctored exam, etc?    I'm sure someone either has completed a course on there or is very close to completing one =)

[maplefu]

not yet. Just finished two modules.

[hsfamfun]

I finished the first Module in the Nutrition class.  It is pretty decent so far, but I am also taking a graduate class, so I don't have a lot of time to devote to it right now.

[eriehiker]

I have completed 13 of the 15 modules in the public health class. I think that the company has done a good job with the course. The quizzes are not gimmes. I have gotten a perfect score on probably 3 of the quizzes. Most I am in the 5 or 6 our to 7 area. 3 was my worst and I've gotten a couple of fours. There seems to be a good variety of videos, although I am a little bit curious about how the company is able to use some of the videos. Many are licensed under a creative commons/open source kind of license. Those are fair game, although I would be interested in knowing what the creators think about their videos being used in this way. There are some Crash Course videos in there, which is interesting. I suppose they really only care about views, but I wonder what they think of it. The content, itself, is pretty good although I think anyone who watches everything will go completely crazy. There does not seem to be any way to know a current grade that I have been able to figure out, so you kind of just take the class and hope for the best. Overall, I like it and it can be a background activity when doing other things.

[Lewis.Yim]

I am taking a couple of courses from them as well, I just mainly review the videos and am about to do my first quiz on both.
I think it's great, I get to play the video at 1.5x and it goes in the background while I work on other studies. I don't know how I will test on it though, but from looking at the course. It's 10% participation, 50% quizzes, and 40% final exam. It's not an easy pass for those who don't know the subject that well, but if you do well in the quizzes and watch the videos completely, that's 60% of the grade there. I would say they are the NCCRS version of Study.com but cheaper than Saylor!

[dfrecore]

I'm doing the Turning Points in History courses for "fun", and am thinking of having my son do the Python course (alongside me) and my daughter do the culinary course (alongside me) so their brains don't rot during summer vacation.

So far, it's good, although a bit on the long side. Watching at 1.5x speed. 2.0 was way too fast.

[jsd]

I'm interested in the python course as well. what little python never gets used so it doesn't stick much.