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Wish I hadn't given Straighterline my money
#21
(08-23-2018, 01:27 PM)katelynn Wrote: Ed4Credit's English Comp II sounds very similar to SL's Comp I as far as the number of assignments. 7-8 written assignments seems to be the standard, with the exception of Sophia's light work load of 4 written assignments.


With SL, I was writing a paper a day UNTIL my options dwindled down to research-type papers (not my strong suit). I've been sitting on this current assignment for three days now and all I have is the header & title.

SDC English composition 2 only had 3 papers. 1 research proposal and 2 full essays(something like 1500 words I believe). So if one is looking to minimize the number of papers, that may be the way to go. The grade breakdown is:
-300 points total
-100 points for quizzes(easy to score 99-100 here)
-100points for proctored final (not difficult)
-100 points for written assignments
-20 for research proposal
-40 each for the 2 essays
So if you do well enough on quizzes and final, you needn't sweat the papers too much. You can also make corrections and resubmit the papers later for a (hopefully) improved grade if you need.

Also, kind of annoying but you only have a choice between 5 prompts for the writing assignments on SDC.
WGU BSIT Complete January 2022
(77CU transferred in)(44/44CU ) 

RA(non WGU)(57cr)
JST/TESU Eval of NAVY Training(85/99cr)
The Institutes, TEEX, NFA(9cr): Ethics, Cyber 101/201/301, Safety
Sophia(60cr): 23 classes
Study.com(31cr): Eng105, Fin102, His108, LibSci101, Math104, Stat101, CS107, CS303, BUS107
CLEP(9cr): Intro Sociology 63 Intro Psych 61 US GOV 71
OD(12cr): Robotics, Cyber, Programming, Microecon
CSM(3cr)
Various IT/Cybersecurity Certifications from: CompTIA, Google, Microsoft, AWS, GIAC, LPI, IBM
CS Fund. MicroBachelor(3cr)
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#22
(08-23-2018, 01:38 PM)MNomadic Wrote:
(08-23-2018, 01:27 PM)katelynn Wrote: Ed4Credit's English Comp II sounds very similar to SL's Comp I as far as the number of assignments. 7-8 written assignments seems to be the standard, with the exception of Sophia's light work load of 4 written assignments.


With SL, I was writing a paper a day UNTIL my options dwindled down to research-type papers (not my strong suit). I've been sitting on this current assignment for three days now and all I have is the header & title.

SDC English composition 2 only had 3 papers. 1 research proposal and 2 full essays(something like 1500 words I believe). So if one is looking to minimize the number of papers, that may be the way to go. The grade breakdown is:
-300 points total
-100 points for quizzes(easy to score 99-100 here)
-100points for proctored final (not difficult)
-100 points for written assignments
-20 for research proposal
-40 each for the 2 essays
So if you do well enough on quizzes and final, you needn't sweat the papers too much. You can also make corrections and resubmit the papers later for a (hopefully) improved grade if you need.

Also, kind of annoying but you only have a choice between 5 prompts for the writing assignments on SDC.

Is there a short essay portion on the SDC proctored final? As I mentioned above, I'm not a very fast typer. 

Hey, that beats the two writing prompt options I've been given for this assignment.
ALEKS(9): College Algebra, Trig, Intro to Statistics
Sophia(42): Intro to Sociology, Human Biology, Environmental Science, Ancient Greek Philosophers, Developing Effective Teams, Essentials of Managing Conflict, Art History I, Approaches to Studying Religions, History I, History II, Introduction to Psychology, Visual Communications, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Intro to Information Technology, Student Success
Straighterline(6): English Comp I, English Comp II
The Institutes(2): Ethics 312
TEEX(16): Cyber Security 101/201/301, Death Investigation, Basic Criminal Investigation, Foundations of Courtroom Testimony, Basic Property Technician, Foundations of Forensic Photography

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#23
(08-23-2018, 01:44 PM)katelynn Wrote:
(08-23-2018, 01:38 PM)MNomadic Wrote:
(08-23-2018, 01:27 PM)katelynn Wrote: Ed4Credit's English Comp II sounds very similar to SL's Comp I as far as the number of assignments. 7-8 written assignments seems to be the standard, with the exception of Sophia's light work load of 4 written assignments.


With SL, I was writing a paper a day UNTIL my options dwindled down to research-type papers (not my strong suit). I've been sitting on this current assignment for three days now and all I have is the header & title.

SDC English composition 2 only had 3 papers. 1 research proposal and 2 full essays(something like 1500 words I believe). So if one is looking to minimize the number of papers, that may be the way to go. The grade breakdown is:
-300 points total
-100 points for quizzes(easy to score 99-100 here)
-100points for proctored final (not difficult)
-100 points for written assignments
-20 for research proposal
-40 each for the 2 essays
So if you do well enough on quizzes and final, you needn't sweat the papers too much. You can also make corrections and resubmit the papers later for a (hopefully) improved grade if you need.

Also, kind of annoying but you only have a choice between 5 prompts for the writing assignments on SDC.

Is there a short essay portion on the SDC proctored final? As I mentioned above, I'm not a very fast typer. 

Hey, that beats the two writing prompt options I've been given for this assignment.

The proctored final is ONLY multiple choice (no essay questions) so you should be perfectly fine... Unless you're a slow mouse clicker.... JK!
WGU BSIT Complete January 2022
(77CU transferred in)(44/44CU ) 

RA(non WGU)(57cr)
JST/TESU Eval of NAVY Training(85/99cr)
The Institutes, TEEX, NFA(9cr): Ethics, Cyber 101/201/301, Safety
Sophia(60cr): 23 classes
Study.com(31cr): Eng105, Fin102, His108, LibSci101, Math104, Stat101, CS107, CS303, BUS107
CLEP(9cr): Intro Sociology 63 Intro Psych 61 US GOV 71
OD(12cr): Robotics, Cyber, Programming, Microecon
CSM(3cr)
Various IT/Cybersecurity Certifications from: CompTIA, Google, Microsoft, AWS, GIAC, LPI, IBM
CS Fund. MicroBachelor(3cr)
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#24
lol at the fact that Sophia Learning liked the original post, throwing shade at their competitor.
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BA Psychology, 2016
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#25
(08-23-2018, 08:23 PM)jsd Wrote: lol at the fact that Sophia Learning liked the original post, throwing shade at their competitor.

Lol I'm so glad you pointed that out, that's hilarious
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#26
On a more positive note, SL just gave me a final grade of 96 on one of my recent papers. Bump that up to a 100 and this thread might just magically disappear *wink wink* jk.
ALEKS(9): College Algebra, Trig, Intro to Statistics
Sophia(42): Intro to Sociology, Human Biology, Environmental Science, Ancient Greek Philosophers, Developing Effective Teams, Essentials of Managing Conflict, Art History I, Approaches to Studying Religions, History I, History II, Introduction to Psychology, Visual Communications, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Intro to Information Technology, Student Success
Straighterline(6): English Comp I, English Comp II
The Institutes(2): Ethics 312
TEEX(16): Cyber Security 101/201/301, Death Investigation, Basic Criminal Investigation, Foundations of Courtroom Testimony, Basic Property Technician, Foundations of Forensic Photography

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#27
In today's episode of Straighterline English, we have the most uninvolved and unconcerned grader to have graded a paper thus far. 

*long sigh* So my persuasive draft was returned with the "instructor's" (some YA college tutor) feedback. I was so surprised to see that he hasn't read any of the Straighterline guidelines for their standard formatting. You literally cannot miss the rules unless you refuse to read any of the given material on how your paper will be graded. Both the assignment instructions, the sample essays, and even the page you access to open an assignment EXPLICITLY explains their rules and how to follow them. 

The very first edit this guy made on my paper was one that informs me to NOT use the Straighterline formatting. Needless to say, I'm not going to comply with his suggestion, as he isn't in authority here -- though he seems to think he is, as he has no concern for what SL demands from the student.  

I'm just lead to wonder how in the world these people get hired to work for SL when they know so little about the company/their rules. I'm concerned about this same guy giving me the final grade, because he'll see that I didn't change the format, and base the grade off of that. 

You never know what you're going to get with this course. There's no such thing as consistency when it comes to the SL English Composition courses (this does not include the teacher-led version as I haven't tried that one).
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#28
(08-24-2018, 06:28 PM)katelynn Wrote: In today's episode of Straighterline English, we have the most uninvolved and unconcerned grader to have graded a paper thus far. 

*long sigh* So my persuasive draft was returned with the "instructor's" (some YA college tutor) feedback. I was so surprised to see that he hasn't read any of the Straighterline guidelines for their standard formatting. You literally cannot miss the rules unless you refuse to read any of the given material on how your paper will be graded. Both the assignment instructions, the sample essays, and even the page you access to open an assignment EXPLICITLY explains their rules and how to follow them. 

The very first edit this guy made on my paper was one that informs me to NOT use the Straighterline formatting. Needless to say, I'm not going to comply with his suggestion, as he isn't in authority here -- though he seems to think he is, as he has no concern for what SL demands from the student.  

I'm just lead to wonder how in the world these people get hired to work for SL when they know so little about the company/their rules. I'm concerned about this same guy giving me the final grade, because he'll see that I didn't change the format, and base the grade off of that. 

You never know what you're going to get with this course. There's no such thing as consistency when it comes to the SL English Composition courses (this does not include the teacher-led version as I haven't tried that one).

Yeah, the SmartThinking tutors who grade the regular course papers kind of suck. They are all over the place and they don't respect the rubric or the posted formatting requirements.

I also took the non-teacher led version (originally) and got frustrated. As I recall, the tutors even marked me down for underlining the thesis and such as required by the rubric. When Straighterline added the teacher-led version, I canceled and jumped over to that and it was like night and day.

Keep in mind that this was in 2011 before Study.com was an option, I'd probably have dropped SL and switched to Study.com had that been an option. At the time it was either SL or CLEP, and I didn't think I could do the essays quick enough during the CLEP.
Working on: Debating whether I want to pursue a doctoral program or maybe another master's degree in 2022-23

Complete:
MBA (IT Management), 2019, Western Governors University
BSBA (Computer Information Systems), 2019, Thomas Edison State University
ASNSM (Computer Science), 2019, Thomas Edison State University

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WGU Ambassador
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#29
(08-24-2018, 07:13 PM)Merlin Wrote:
(08-24-2018, 06:28 PM)katelynn Wrote: In today's episode of Straighterline English, we have the most uninvolved and unconcerned grader to have graded a paper thus far. 

*long sigh* So my persuasive draft was returned with the "instructor's" (some YA college tutor) feedback. I was so surprised to see that he hasn't read any of the Straighterline guidelines for their standard formatting. You literally cannot miss the rules unless you refuse to read any of the given material on how your paper will be graded. Both the assignment instructions, the sample essays, and even the page you access to open an assignment EXPLICITLY explains their rules and how to follow them. 

The very first edit this guy made on my paper was one that informs me to NOT use the Straighterline formatting. Needless to say, I'm not going to comply with his suggestion, as he isn't in authority here -- though he seems to think he is, as he has no concern for what SL demands from the student.  

I'm just lead to wonder how in the world these people get hired to work for SL when they know so little about the company/their rules. I'm concerned about this same guy giving me the final grade, because he'll see that I didn't change the format, and base the grade off of that. 

You never know what you're going to get with this course. There's no such thing as consistency when it comes to the SL English Composition courses (this does not include the teacher-led version as I haven't tried that one).

Yeah, the SmartThinking tutors who grade the regular course papers kind of suck. They are all over the place and they don't respect the rubric or the posted formatting requirements.

I also took the non-teacher led version (originally) and got frustrated. As I recall, the tutors even marked me down for underlining the thesis and such as required by the rubric. When Straighterline added the teacher-led version, I canceled and jumped over to that and it was like night and day.

Keep in mind that this was in 2011 before Study.com was an option, I'd probably have dropped SL and switched to Study.com had that been an option. At the time it was either SL or CLEP, and I didn't think I could do the essays quick enough during the CLEP.

If you were me, would you contact student support? I don't want to risk this guy getting an attitude and grading low if I don't revise my paper how he said to. I mean, as you already said, it's in the rubric. Am I supposed to disregard the rubric all for this one tutor?
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#30
(08-24-2018, 07:40 PM)katelynn Wrote:
(08-24-2018, 07:13 PM)Merlin Wrote:
(08-24-2018, 06:28 PM)katelynn Wrote: In today's episode of Straighterline English, we have the most uninvolved and unconcerned grader to have graded a paper thus far. 

*long sigh* So my persuasive draft was returned with the "instructor's" (some YA college tutor) feedback. I was so surprised to see that he hasn't read any of the Straighterline guidelines for their standard formatting. You literally cannot miss the rules unless you refuse to read any of the given material on how your paper will be graded. Both the assignment instructions, the sample essays, and even the page you access to open an assignment EXPLICITLY explains their rules and how to follow them. 

The very first edit this guy made on my paper was one that informs me to NOT use the Straighterline formatting. Needless to say, I'm not going to comply with his suggestion, as he isn't in authority here -- though he seems to think he is, as he has no concern for what SL demands from the student.  

I'm just lead to wonder how in the world these people get hired to work for SL when they know so little about the company/their rules. I'm concerned about this same guy giving me the final grade, because he'll see that I didn't change the format, and base the grade off of that. 

You never know what you're going to get with this course. There's no such thing as consistency when it comes to the SL English Composition courses (this does not include the teacher-led version as I haven't tried that one).

Yeah, the SmartThinking tutors who grade the regular course papers kind of suck. They are all over the place and they don't respect the rubric or the posted formatting requirements.

I also took the non-teacher led version (originally) and got frustrated. As I recall, the tutors even marked me down for underlining the thesis and such as required by the rubric. When Straighterline added the teacher-led version, I canceled and jumped over to that and it was like night and day.

Keep in mind that this was in 2011 before Study.com was an option, I'd probably have dropped SL and switched to Study.com had that been an option. At the time it was either SL or CLEP, and I didn't think I could do the essays quick enough during the CLEP.

If you were me, would you contact student support? I don't want to risk this guy getting an attitude and grading low if I don't revise my paper how he said to. I mean, as you already said, it's in the rubric. Am I supposed to disregard the rubric all for this one tutor?

You get a different tutor each time you submit a paper for grading, so chances are you won't get the same one twice. Or if you do, you won't know ahead of time. There is also no way to really coordinate or communicate with the random graders either, so its hard to really create a sense of expectation if and when to follow or not follow the rubric. How can you even be sure you're learning the correct material if the grader contradicts the rubric and curriculum? IMO, it isn't the graders' job to tell you to do things differen't, they should just follow the rubric and not add their own interpretation. Yes, in the real college world things are done differently than how SL teaches it, but most teachers have their own rubric anyway... the rule is to always follow the rubric.

If it were me, I'd do what I did the first time and drop this version of the course, get a refund and use it to get the teacher-led version so you can get consistent teaching, someone to speak to about questions, and assurance that the grading will follow the rubric. If you're unwilling to do that, then I'd just stick to the rubric and complain to student support that your graders aren't following the published course rubric. Just be prepared to show examples where the graders aren't following the rules or telling you to avoid the curriculum.
Working on: Debating whether I want to pursue a doctoral program or maybe another master's degree in 2022-23

Complete:
MBA (IT Management), 2019, Western Governors University
BSBA (Computer Information Systems), 2019, Thomas Edison State University
ASNSM (Computer Science), 2019, Thomas Edison State University

ScholarMatch College & Career Coach
WGU Ambassador
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