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09-06-2020, 10:10 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-06-2020, 10:12 AM by cecilgambe7.)
(09-06-2020, 09:38 AM)Old Guy Wrote: I finished a lot of Shmoop courses in a single day by not reading the material and running though all the exams, then reading the sections I did poorest on and redoing exams until I hit 70%. The courses I was familiar with I passed first time and some I totally bombed. Just like every other school, Shmoop courses were variable in difficulty with some having a 10 - 15 book required reading list. Any reasonably intelligent person could complete a degree from a state school in an 8 month academic year. I took 4 years to get a degree the first time, a lifetime ago, missing most of my classes and doing pretty much nothing else but drinking and fornicating. Schools tend to slow people down by filling their courses with thoroughly ridiculous busy work. A lot of people used Shmoop courses as akin to CLEP exams. They weren't there to learn. They were there to document their knowledge - for 5 bucks a course.
Interesting thought...
I fully agree that universities deliberately slow down the process, A career in engineering can take 4-6 years, but liberal arts, so it should only take one year.
My Astronomy course at ASU is my first non-self-paced US course, i finish the new week content in one day and then i just wait for next week for the new content (new clases), so if the full content is uploaded at once i could finish the 7 weeks course in just one week or maybe less... i just need to wait because university force me to wait for the new classes, but form a learning point of view this make no sense.
Edit: Going back to the central issue of the thread: ...anyway, I think that the quality of Shmoop was always a little bad to cover the requirements of academic courses.
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Technical subjects do require you to put in time and work through problems but read and regurgitate courses do not. I can read 1,000 pages in a few days and retain enough to pass any exam.
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(09-05-2020, 09:56 PM)jsh1138 Wrote: Sophia doesn't have proctoring either.
Yes it does. It has biometrics. If you fail the biometric then you have to get a text with a code from them to get back in. You're locked out of the exam otherwise. Happens to my husband with every milestone because he's using an iPad. He has had to call Sophia to get it unlocked and answer a series of questions.
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(09-06-2020, 02:37 PM)ss20ts Wrote: (09-05-2020, 09:56 PM)jsh1138 Wrote: Sophia doesn't have proctoring either.
Yes it does. It has biometrics. If you fail the biometric then you have to get a text with a code from them to get back in. You're locked out of the exam otherwise. Happens to my husband with every milestone because he's using an iPad. He has had to call Sophia to get it unlocked and answer a series of questions. Biometric authentication isn't the same as proctoring. One verifies you are who you say you are and the other monitors your testing to ensure you follow their rules. Neither is perfect but they serve different purposes.
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I think it helps that Sophia makes no secret that their courses are all open-book. As long as you are who you say you are, it's okay. I think that, with Shmoop, the tests were supposed to be closed-book. That doesn't really fly if you don't have some sort of verification method in place.
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(09-06-2020, 02:37 PM)ss20ts Wrote: (09-05-2020, 09:56 PM)jsh1138 Wrote: Sophia doesn't have proctoring either.
Yes it does. It has biometrics. If you fail the biometric then you have to get a text with a code from them to get back in. You're locked out of the exam otherwise. Happens to my husband with every milestone because he's using an iPad. He has had to call Sophia to get it unlocked and answer a series of questions.
No, it doesn't.
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I did really enjoy doing the math problems with Shmoop and I enjoyed the literature classes. I majored in English during my first run through college and I teach HS/MS English. I liked extending my knowledge into new areas. I think that there was a strange dichotomy in that the classes were challenging overall, but there would be glaringly incorrect and impossible questions mixed in. It was just very uneven.
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I thought Shmoop was fine, personally. Straighterline's tests were dumber than Shmoop's ever could be, and people here seem to like them for whatever reason.
People from the Big 3 browse this forum often and people on here bragging about how easy Shmoop was and how they were doing 20 courses a month on there is what killed their accreditation, not anything to do with their tests or courses. If it was just the proctoring they could have required that easily enough.
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(09-06-2020, 09:15 PM)eriehiker Wrote: I did really enjoy doing the math problems with Shmoop and I enjoyed the literature classes. I majored in English during my first run through college and I teach HS/MS English. I liked extending my knowledge into new areas. I think that there was a strange dichotomy in that the classes were challenging overall, but there would be glaringly incorrect and impossible questions mixed in. It was just very uneven.
There was nothing wrong with their English courses. In two courses I watched or read almost all of Shakespeare's plays. Key to Shakespeare - watch the videos - the text is unreadable. I had considered an degree with an English major when TESU gave upper level credit for many of the courses.
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(09-07-2020, 10:39 AM)Old Guy Wrote: (09-06-2020, 09:15 PM)eriehiker Wrote: I did really enjoy doing the math problems with Shmoop and I enjoyed the literature classes. I majored in English during my first run through college and I teach HS/MS English. I liked extending my knowledge into new areas. I think that there was a strange dichotomy in that the classes were challenging overall, but there would be glaringly incorrect and impossible questions mixed in. It was just very uneven.
There was nothing wrong with their English courses. In two courses I watched or read almost all of Shakespeare's plays. Key to Shakespeare - watch the videos - the text is unreadable. I had considered an degree with an English major when TESU gave upper level credit for many of the courses.
What are your degree plans? I've seen you share your thoughts on various courses you've completed. I found your thoughts to be very helpful in determining where to take some courses.
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