Sophia Quality... Questionable?

[BrianFallon]

Hey everyone! It's been a long time since I've posted on the forums but I just can't help but bring this up. 

I was taking some Sophia courses to test them out during the free period and I couldn't believe how easy they are. I took Sociology in just a day (just over 2 hours) and that's one of the longer ones! 

The most disappointing thing to me was the practice final. It's only 25 questions long, open book and not proctored. They of course have that typing test to verify that it's you, but you could have 10 people in the room helping you, or you could type the sentence and walk away to have someone else take the test. Not to mention, just opening other tabs on your computer, which it didn't seem to specifically say not to do. Although I didn't do that because it seemed like cheating and I wasn't sure of the rules, and it was so stupid easy I didn't need to. I didn't even need to use the open book material they prompt you to check during the test. Additionally, I went through it as quickly as I could so I didn't read one line of text from the transcripts, I only went through and took the quizzes and milestones. I don't say this to brag - rather to point out that I think anyone would do just fine with that method. Especially on the final, since some of the questions were so blatantly obvious a 10 year old could answer them. 

I understand that people shouldn't cheat even if they won't get caught, but it all just seems a little ridiculous. I know it's nice to have courses that are easy - I'd be lying if I said I didn't always look for the easiest CLEP, DSST, Straighterline and Study.com courses to meet my requirements. But something that easy (and easy to cheat on) seems like it really lowers the integrity of what it means for a course to be ACE approved. 

I'm honestly pretty disappointed to see this. But I'm curious to hear other opinions on it!

I'll chalk this post up to "you can lead a horse to water...."

Here's what I think:

1.  We each - every one of us - have different aptitudes, interests, and backgrounds.  I've worked in tax administration since 2006.  IF I took Sophia's Accounting course, I'd expect that I'd breeze through it - it's what I've been doing every day.  (If I didn't - well, new career time?)  Likewise, with their Information Technology.  I took the CLEP Info Systems but when I found out that TESU has different equivalencies - I signed up for Information Technology.  I found it pretty basic but a decent amount of information.  Likewise with Sophia's Project Management course - why?  I spent two years on a project team rewriting an 18 month technical tax collection training program - I was exposed to the themes, concepts, and terms - but the course brought it together.    Our experience shapes our experiences - if you follow me.

2.  Each of the Sophia courses that I took (I ended up with 16 courses @ 3 credits each for 48 hours) had an inordinate amount of resources - video, PDF, the web material.  If you downloaded the PDF for each of the sections, you'd have MORE than a typical college text book.  It was pretty content rich, compared to say, onlinedegree.com, Straighterline, and Aleks.  If one chose to avail oneself of the material, it was actually pretty good.

3.  I suppose that if one skims for answers and can regurgitate the information, that's one valid path.  I don't know your situation and won't be overly critical of your approach.  I took a different approach - as I wrote previously.  My goal was simply two courses - Algebra and Stats.  Why?  I really struggled with the Aleks format.  I just could not get a sense of place in the course.  But Sophia was different.  Depending on the course, I moved quickly through some and very slowly through others.  I had to rewatch a video or two.  Some of the courses I took will not fulfill any bit of my degree requirements, but I found them to be fun.  I took a philosophy course at a local B&M college, but the Greek Philosophers was a good reinforcement.  I believe there is validity in learning for the sake of learning.  : 

4.  We're all going to demonstrate our learning in different ways and personal preference plays a role when we select our alt credit providers.  I didn't pick Sophia before the free trial because, frankly, I thought at $329 a course, my local community college is much cheaper.  Granted, it would take longer at the B&M, BUT, I've waited so long for my degree anyway.     During the trial, I was more than pleasantly surprised by the courses.  AFTER the trial, with a $149 annual subscription and 27 three credit courses available, they will quickly become a provider of choice for many people.  I just don't see how you could turn that offer away - if you need their courses.  IF they add a few UL courses, I'd be a customer.