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Completing Courses Quickly/Straighterline Action Plan - AwardTour - 06-16-2018

Okay, I have read posts by many different people on how they were able to blaze through a course very quickly (1 week or less). I can understand this if the test is open book and there are no writing assignments. 

Is there a way to know if there are writing assignments on a Straighterline course ahead of time? Is there a master list somewhere online that contains these details? The "grading criteria" tab does not always contain enough info to really get a sense of what assignments are ahead. 

I can't see how anyone can knock out a class and final exam in a week if there is a writing assignment. Straighterline says on their own website that the turn around time is 3 to 5 business days on essays/written work. 

If anyone has any info regarding written work for the following courses it would be appreciated:
(The * Means Open Book is allowed)
     CIS-107 IT Fundamentals 3(SL)
     BUE-101 Personal Finance 3(SL) *
     REL-277 INFO LITERACY - Introduction to Religion 3(SL) *
     ANT-101 DIVERSITY - Cultural Anthropology 3(SL) *
     SOC-101 Introduction to Sociology 3(SL)
     PSY-101 Introduction to Psychology 3(SL)
     AOJ-102 Introduction to Criminal Justice 3(SL) *
     POS-110 CIVIC ENGAGEMENT - American Government 3(SL)
     HIS-101 Western Civilization I 3(SL) *
     BIO-101 Introduction to Biology 3(SL)

RE: Completing Courses Quickly/Straighterline Action Plan - dfrecore - 06-16-2018

None of those have writing assignments. The syllabus will tell you if there are writing assignments - I just looked at Intro to Bio, and it shows 13 exams worth 50 points each, and a final worth 350, for a total of 1000 pts.

Just an FYI, Personal Finance comes in as a Free Elective, so not super useful towards most degrees.

RE: Completing Courses Quickly/Straighterline Action Plan - AwardTour - 06-16-2018

(06-16-2018, 08:21 PM)dfrecore Wrote: None of those have writing assignments.  The syllabus will tell you if there are writing assignments - I just looked at Intro to Bio, and it shows 13 exams worth 50 points each, and a final worth 350, for a total of 1000 pts.  

Just an FYI, Personal Finance comes in as a Free Elective, so not super useful towards most degrees.

Thank you dfrecore for your advice yet again. I feel like I owe you money at this point dfrecore. It looks like Study.com is now back to 4 credits for Bio+Lab. It dropped to 3 for a few weeks. 

Personal Finance is just an elective that I selected. 

Thanks for pointing that out in regards to Straighterline, my only other question is (I am not doubting you btw) how can you tell by looking at the Syllabus on a course like Sociology? It keeps listing with a bullet point "Explain xyz...". Does SL have some exact terminology/words that they use for a writing assignment? When I saw "Explain" I thought they meant "explain by writing". 
I must be wrong. I'm fine with that  Big Grin

RE: Completing Courses Quickly/Straighterline Action Plan - jsd - 06-17-2018

Look at the part of the syllabus that says Evaluation Criteria. It will list any tests/exams or projects/papers needed. For Sociology, no writing assignments are listed.

RE: Completing Courses Quickly/Straighterline Action Plan - AwardTour - 06-17-2018

(06-17-2018, 12:11 AM)jsd Wrote: Look at the part of the syllabus that says Evaluation Criteria. It will list any tests/exams or projects/papers needed. For Sociology, no writing assignments are listed.

Thanks for the reply, it looks like if a writing assignment is required it will say "Writing Submissions" in the course syllabus and it will list the acceptable file formats (.doc, .pdf...etc..etc..).

RE: Completing Courses Quickly/Straighterline Action Plan - dfrecore - 06-17-2018

As another example, look at English Comp I (in the Course Evaluation Criteria section). It shows that there are a bunch of Graded Quizzes, and a bunch of Writing Assignments. Intro to Communication lists Exams and Presentations. It is pretty easy to see that if a course has only Quizzes and/or exams, that there are no papers or other projects due.

RE: Completing Courses Quickly/Straighterline Action Plan - cookderosa - 06-17-2018

(06-16-2018, 05:38 PM)AwardTour Wrote: Okay, I have read posts by many different people on how they were able to blaze through a course very quickly (1 week or less). I can understand this if the test is open book and there are no writing assignments.

Is there a way to know if there are writing assignments on a Straighterline course ahead of time? Is there a master list somewhere online that contains these details? The "grading criteria" tab does not always contain enough info to really get a sense of what assignments are ahead.

I can't see how anyone can knock out a class and final exam in a week if there is a writing assignment. Straighterline says on their own website that the turn around time is 3 to 5 business days on essays/written work.

If anyone has any info regarding written work for the following courses it would be appreciated:
(The * Means Open Book is allowed)
CIS-107 IT Fundamentals 3(SL)
BUE-101 Personal Finance 3(SL) *
REL-277 INFO LITERACY - Introduction to Religion 3(SL) *
ANT-101 DIVERSITY - Cultural Anthropology 3(SL) *
SOC-101 Introduction to Sociology 3(SL)
PSY-101 Introduction to Psychology 3(SL)
AOJ-102 Introduction to Criminal Justice 3(SL) *
POS-110 CIVIC ENGAGEMENT - American Government 3(SL)
HIS-101 Western Civilization I 3(SL) *
BIO-101 Introduction to Biology 3(SL)


I created a list last year that you're welcome to review. Here is a copy/paste of some of the post:
https://homeschoolingforcollegecredit.com/2017/02/27/straighterline-dissected-what-to-take/

SL courses that require written essays
Business Communication
Sociology
English Composition 2
English Composition 1

SL courses that require giving speeches/video recording
Spanish 1
Spanish 2
Introduction to Communication

SL courses that require a 3rd party to verify your activity
First Aid
Personal Fitness

RE: Completing Courses Quickly/Straighterline Action Plan - VanillaBean - 06-17-2018

(06-16-2018, 08:21 PM)dfrecore Wrote: None of those have writing assignments.  The syllabus will tell you if there are writing assignments - I just looked at Intro to Bio, and it shows 13 exams worth 50 points each, and a final worth 350, for a total of 1000 pts.  

Just an FYI, Personal Finance comes in as a Free Elective, so not super useful towards most degrees.


(06-17-2018, 12:11 AM)jsd Wrote: Look at the part of the syllabus that says Evaluation Criteria. It will list any tests/exams or projects/papers needed. For Sociology, no writing assignments are listed.


I recently spoke with a Straighterline representative about the Sociology course because there was not grading criteria for that course.  I was informed that there are several versions of the Sociology course and some of those versions have writing assignments so they could not provide grading criteria until after that course was purchased and I knew what version I had received.

I was told that one of the versions has written assignments, while another version has tests only.

Looking just now, they now have more information than they did a week ago.  From memory, a week ago there was no information under the "Grading Criteria" section other than a basic statement that the course accumulates up to 1,000 points like most of the other Straighterline courses.

Now the Grading Criteria lists Tests on the following topics worth 70% of the grade and the final worth 30%
  • Topic Test: Foundations of Sociology
  • Topic Test: Individuals in Society
  • Topic Test: Social Interaction and Groups
  • Topic Test: Race, Class, and Gender Inequality
  • Topic Test: Other Sources of Inequality
  • Topic Test: Social Institutions
  • Topic Test: A Changing Society
There is not a breakdown of how many points each test is worth.

RE: Completing Courses Quickly/Straighterline Action Plan - AwardTour - 06-17-2018

(06-17-2018, 01:48 AM)dfrecore Wrote:  "It is pretty easy to see that if a course has only Quizzes and/or exams, that there are no papers or other projects due."

Maybe it is not so easy to see, I had you and JSD tell me that there are no writing assignments for Sociology and now cookderosa is telling me that there are in fact writing assignments. VanillaBean is saying that there is variability among the same course. For the record, I am talking about the non-instructor/professor course.

I am going to email Straighterline and ask them if there are writing assignments for the non-instructor led Sociology course. I will post the reply in this thread.

RE: Completing Courses Quickly/Straighterline Action Plan - Lewis.Yim - 06-17-2018

Hello, I completed StraighterLine Intro to Sociology a couple of months ago.
There are 5 writing assignments. Very short, that can be done within a day.
I got perfect marks for them, the person evaluating the assignment leaves you a note and gives proper feedback.
There is nothing to worry about, your action plan seems solid. Just get it done!