Propero/Pearson courses

[armyb77]

I received access to the course today. So far I have completed Lessons 1-3 out of 12. I do not want to violate any copyrights or compromise the course so I will be leaving certain information about the course out (Reference Material, actual questions, specific topics, etc.) Here is what I can say so far:

Courseware:
The overall courseware is easy to understand and use. Each lesson comes complete with a presentation, audio lecture, and reading material. The problems I have with the course is that you are limited in your ability to print materials for referencing, so if you are taking this course, it is best to have 2 monitors so you can highlight the ebook while reading the presentations. It is almost impossible with only one monitor to effectively study for the quizzes. You are given 2 ebooks for the course, and they are pretty easy to read. Each Lesson has about 30 pages of reading in the book, a 25-35 slide presentation with a 20 min audio lecture. (the audio is called "On the Go Audio" and can be used without the presentations. The presentations have a choice of text only, or interactive. The text only presentation is just the information and the answers to the "check on learning" questions. The interactive gives more situations but takes time to get through. Most of this course seems to focus on research, and research methods. There seems to be no Proctored exam during the course. There is no novel to read like in straighterline, however you will have to read multiple articles, and journals to prepare your written assignments. The last thing of note is you only have 12 weeks from your enrollment date to complete the entire course! With that said however; I was able to complete the first 3 weeks in one day, so it is not overwhelming minus the 10 page paper that you have to write! (more on that later)

Grading:
Writing Assignments = 20% of your grade
Quizzes = 20% of your grade
Tests= 40% of your grade
Final Exam = 20% of your grade
Total: 100%

Now for more detail on these areas.
The Writing Assignments:
There are four writing assignments:
Assignment 1 : 200 word paragraph on academic research (what you learned, challenges, etc). Due no later than (NLT) the beginning of Lesson 6
Assignment 2 : At least a 10 page paper on a your research topic from Assignment 1 with at least 10 sources! Due NLT the beginning of Lesson 9
Assignment 3 : No more than 1250 word Paper on a topic that is supplied along with research references. Due NLT the end of Lesson 9. My topic is the BP Oil Spill, but I don't know if it is always the same or not.
Assignment 4 : A paper that is 1250 words (it doesn't say at least or no more than) evaluating your literary analyses. Due NLT the beginning of Lesson 12.

Practice Quizzes:
Each lesson has up to 5 Practice Quizzes that DO NOT go towards your grade. You must achieve a 80% to move to the Graded Quiz for the Lesson. The practice quizzes that I have taken so far only have 5 multiple choice questions that are related to the Lesson. I will say however that it seems the questions sometime ask things that are actually part of the next lesson module. You have 55 minutes to complete the quiz. If you miss more than one question you will be forced to take another practice quiz until you achieve the 80%.

Graded Quizzes:
Each Lesson has a Graded Quiz. So far all of the graded quizzes have 15 multiple choice questions focusing on the Lesson you are on. You get 55 mins to complete the quiz. These questions are more pointed than those in the practice quizzes, so they take less time to answer in my opinion.

Practice Tests:
These are just like the practice quizzes but cover 3 lessons of material. (Lessons 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12)

Tests:
These are just like the Graded Quizzes but cover 3 lessons of material. (Lessons 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12) They are also much more important than the quizzes as each Test is worth 10% of your grade, and each quiz is only worth 1.67% of your grade.

Final Exam:
I can't speak to this exam yet because I haven't taken it, but you are allowed up to 4 hours to complete it.


My overall assessment is that this course will be challenging, but doable. The Technical Support for initial enrollment is HORRIBLE! This is mainly do to the fact that they do not do the processing for the course on the same website as the courseware, in fact it is an entirely different branch of the company! The other branch has little to no knowledge of Propero's existence. I will probably take more classes with them in the future so I can review them. Of course I need to get through this one first, and I will only take one at a time so I can focus on DSSTs, and CLEP exams. The other courses I may take are as follows: Accounting I, II, Macro/Micro-economics, and Business Law.

Please feel free to ask questions and I will attempt to answer them.

Cheers!
~armyb77