Study.com vs. Straighterline Microbiology +

[txnicole]

The independent user's subscription fee is $100/month.
Subscribe to Study.com Scroll to bottom of web page.

For $50 you get unlimited access to all the videos in any course but no quizzes or CBE's for courses that have them. One of my students is using this option now to supplement his OhioU correspondence course in Stats.

Yeah, but I thought the op was talking about the college credit courses. According to the link you shared that's only available in the $200 plan.

[JohnnyHeck]

Yeah, but I thought the op was talking about the college credit courses. According to the link you shared that's only available in the $200 plan.

Thanks, you are correct. I misinterpreted the what the exams meant in the $100 plan, ACE will need the results of the video proctored exam which you can only take with the $200 plan. If you used the $100 plan to prepare for other CBE such as CLEP you would have to add that cost to the $100 plan. Since this thread is specific to Microbiology and I don't know of any other CBE for it, I still think this is good value unless you can't finish in 1 month due to personal time constraints. Then, SL looks better to me.

[sanantone]

There is a Uexcel for microbiology, but it costs $345. Basically, you have to decide if the Study.com format is worth paying an extra $75 over SL. If you happen to take two months to complete the course, Study.com will cost $175 more than SL.

[Outis]

I am taking a variety of courses at Study.com, for personal growth rather than any degree objectives. The quality varies significantly from video to video. Notice I did not say course to coruse, but video to video. Here is a sample of something that I consider to be moronic, from the Science of Nutrition course:

You can remember the names of the 10 essential amino acids by using the mnemonic PVT TIM HALL. The PVT stands for Phenylalanine with its big side chain; the valiant Valine; and the third essential amino acid is Threonine. TIM stands for Tryptophan, Isoleucine and Methionine, and we learned that private Tim takes many 'trips', which keeps him 'isolated', yet he sees that there is a 'method' to his travels. HALL stands for Histidine, Arginine, Leucine and Lysine. Private Hall is proud of his military 'history', and although the travel is 'arduous', he feels 'lucky' when he gets to 'lie' his hands back on U.S. soil.

The remaining 10 nonessential amino acids can be remembered by using the mnemonic Almost All Girls Go Crazy After Getting Taken Prom Shopping, which stands for Alanine, Asparagine, Glutamate, Glutamine, Cysteine, Aspartate, Glycine,Tyrosine, Proline and Serine. We notice that amino acids that start with one of the letters in word GAS are nonessential. Of course, this takes into account our semi-essential amino acid, Arginine.

With the SL courses, at least the ones with college level textbooks required - you have a good idea of the quality of the content. Either way, I like both SL and Study and will continue to use them interchangeably.

[cookderosa]

I am taking a variety of courses at Study.com, for personal growth rather than any degree objectives. The quality varies significantly from video to video. Notice I did not say course to coruse, but video to video. Here is a sample of something that I consider to be moronic, from the Science of Nutrition course:



With the SL courses, at least the ones with college level textbooks required - you have a good idea of the quality of the content. Either way, I like both SL and Study and will continue to use them interchangeably.

Wow..... as someone with a Masters of Science in Nutrition, you'd think memorizing the list of essential/nonessential amino acids might have come up at least once. It didn't.
lol what a waste of anyone's time and brain space- no one cares about the list *unless/until you're in an advanced nutrition biochemistry class* but seriously understanding the difference between essential and nonessential is important at the Intro Nutrition level, the rest is filler.

[RANSOMSOUL]

Between the interest of this thread and the possibility of using some additional science credits, I took the Microbiology course with Straighterline. Having done Anatomy & now Microbiology with SL, would have to say that there was strong information and structure within both

There has been answers and counter answers - can anyone confirm if having 6 credits (Anatomy & Physiology - Microbiology) count as any 4 credit Science+Lab requirement? Our family has a vegan lifestyle and have zero interest to due a 'animal lab' for credit. If it does not count, do we have examples of how an exception can be made for special circumstances?

[sanantone]

Between the interest of this thread and the possibility of using some additional science credits, I took the Microbiology course with Straighterline. Having done Anatomy & now Microbiology with SL, would have to say that there was strong information and structure within both

There has been answers and counter answers - can anyone confirm if having 6 credits (Anatomy & Physiology - Microbiology) count as any 4 credit Science+Lab requirement? Our family has a vegan lifestyle and have zero interest to due a 'animal lab' for credit. If it does not count, do we have examples of how an exception can be made for special circumstances?

No, you need a lab. The physical sciences typically don't have animal labs: chemistry, physics, astronomy, etc.

[RANSOMSOUL]

thank you for confirming.

[adavis84]

Just to touch back on the OP's question of how SL and study.com compare, I decide to slam through one of study.com's shorter courses in an area I needed little study/review. I chose the Principles of Marketing course and completed it over the last two days. I did this mostly because I wanted to see what the final exam procedure was like (I'm only about a quarter of the way through microbio and progressing steadily, but slowly).

The final for study.com is structured similarly to SL in that the final is essentially a composite of the prior quizzes. Some questions are directly from prior quizzes while some are reworked but still similar. This course had a closed book, no notes final (I'm under the impression that this is the case for all of their courses, no?).

The stark contrast, however, is the final grade turnaround. SL uses a live proctoring service by a person with whom you interact. Study.com, however, uses a fully automated proctor. Both use a very similar authentication/validation process (photo ID, room pan, computer scan for unauthorized programs running, etc). What this translates to is instant grading from SL with your transcripts available in 72 hours, but a one to two week waiting period for study.com final exam results.

This is likely not a concern for most people, but I'm glad I found this out. I'm scheduling when I need to complete microbio by to get transcripts sent to TESU for my graduation deadline and a potential two week waiting period (on top of TESU's 20+ business day turnaround) is good to know.

For those under a time-crunch, SL or CLEP may be faster than study.com (given all other factors are equal).

[adavis84]

Yes, I don't need the lab either. When I read the Saylor/Straighterline syllabus, it looked by a bear of a course. The video's with quizzes seems so much easier. Let me know how it finally comes out for you: expended hours, difficulty of course final, etc. Thanks

I just finished up Microbiology using study.com.

The course wasn't all that much more time consuming that the length of the videos themselves. There are 208 videos at an average of 8 mins/video (according to study.com). I found that I only needed to rewatch/rewind videos about 15% of the time. Beyond that, I found I spent about two minutes per attempt of each lesson quiz. I required of myself that I get 100% on each quiz (where as study.com only requires 80%), so I spent extra time that others may not require/feel necessary.

The videos are very informative and certainly take a "for dummies" approach (for lack of a better term) in that concepts are simplified, frequently repetitious (example: nearly every time the term gram positive or negative came up there was a brief explanation of gram staining), and there is a strong use of storytelling and metaphor/simile used to explain the concepts. Every video concludes with a summary. The videos all take on a tone of being quirky/"fun". At times this was helpful/charming/entertaining, at other times it was, frankly, annoying and time-wasting.

To prepare for the final, I took the 20 30-question chapter review exams (these are optional and not required before the final as the 208 lesson quizzes are). I passed every one of those on the first try (70% + is a pass). My lowest was a 78%. Most were high 80's to low 90's with an odd 100% in there. These practice exams are nearly a direct rehash of the lesson quizzes. Most were repeat, identical questions, while the rest were simply modified versions of previous questions. I also took the practice final and passed that on the first try. The practice final was, again, in large part a rehash of the previous chapter review quizzes.

Then, today, I took the final...

100 questions, two hour limit, closed book (there is no book, so...), no notes (the SL final is also closed book, no notes.)

I found it significantly more challenging and requiring of deeper knowledge than I feel the lesson quizzes or chapter review exams set me up for. I think I passed, but won't know for one to two weeks. With that in mind, I strongly recommend augmenting/enhancing your final studies to include more than just the chapter review exams. I found the lesson quizzes and chapter review exams to be quite easy, so I didn't take the exam as seriously as I should have.

Incidentally, I also took the Saylor practice final and found it somewhat similar to the study.com final (perhaps more challenging). I passed, barely, but there were questions in the Saylor practice final that I didn't understand at all after having already completed the study.com course. I do not know how the Saylor practice final compares to the SL final, but given the SL course is a repackaging of the Saylor course, I'm venturing a guess that Saylor and SL's finals are more like each other than either is like the study.com final.

As is always the case, you mileage may vary, void where prohibited, see dealer for details, etc...however, I hope this is helpful to anyone considering the study.com Microbiology course. Unless it comes up that I failed the final, I have to say I enjoyed the course and would recommended it if you find videos a stronger tool to you than reading.