10-18-2023, 09:02 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-18-2023, 10:03 PM by RachelB.
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Provider: Sophia
Course: Visual Communications
Course content: Text and pictures. Standard Sophia format.
Final exam format: Multiple Choice. 25 questions.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: It's all virtually the same, iirc.
Time taken on course: About 3 hours total.
Familiarity with subject before course: My hobbies include interior decorating, scrapbooking and other paper crafts, and photography, so I already knew most everything here from prior light reading.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: This is a super easy, basic class, even if you have little experience with visual arts.
1-10 Difficulty level: 1
Provider: Sophia
Course: Environmental Science
Course content: Text and pictures. Standard Sophia format.
Final exam format: Multiple Choice. 25 questions.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: It's all virtually the same, iirc.
Time taken on course: About 5-8 hours total? I didn't think to track my time.
Familiarity with subject before course: I've done some light reading on plastic pollution and caring for the environment, but nothing intense.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: Some of the answers were worded in a difficult way, so that multiple answers appeared to be correct. It seemed like the writer of the class really wanted to trip students up, moreso than teach them, lol. It's easy enough, though.
1-10 Difficulty level: 3
Provider: Sophia
Course: Spanish I
Course content: Text, pictures, audio files. Standard Sophia format.
Final exam format: Multiple Choice. 25 questions.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: It's all virtually the same, iirc.
Time taken on course: 5 days total, due to Touchstone grading. If I was brand-new to the language, it definitely would have taken longer.
Familiarity with subject before course: I've taken higher level Spanish classes, but didn't receive credit for the LL knowledge, so I took this for easy credit.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: There is way too much cultural content here on all 20-some countries where Spanish is a majority language. It covers huge lists of slang, foods, holidays, "famous" people from these places (most I've not heard of), etc. for each and every country. While this information is on the challenge questions and exams, you can use the search function for those questions, and just focus on learning the actual language. I promise you will not need to know 20+ different ways to say "boy" and "girl" in real life. My native Spanish-speaking friends didn't know half of these.
--
About the touchstones: There are 5 touchstones. The first two are essentially the same assignment, one in written format, the other in oral format. The next is a written assignment, and the last two are, again, the same assignment in both written and oral formats. They're very easy and straightforward, and only a couple paragraphs each.
1-10 Difficulty level: For me, 2. For someone learning Spanish for the first time through this course, maybe 6 or 7?
Provider: Sophia
Course: Conflict Resolution
Course content: All text. For these challenge questions, you are only given two attempts to correctly answer.
Final exam format: Multiple Choice. 25 questions.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: It's all in the same format, but the exact scenarios are different.
Time taken on course: Several hours, over the course of a week and a half.
Familiarity with subject before course: I've read a lot of nonfiction and feel like all the material is pretty common sense stuff that you come across in life, generally. I didn't know all the specific jargon, but it wasn't terribly difficult to follow.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: It's not necessary to read the actual course material. You should read through each scenario carefully before answering the questions, and just search the course content when specific jargon is used.
1-10 Difficulty level: 2-3. It's not difficult, but it's very repetitive and tedious. I was mind-numbingly bored throughout this course, so I kept putting off working on it, which is why it took me awhile.
Provider: Sophia
Course: Art History I
Course content: Text and photos.
Final exam format: Multiple Choice. 25 questions.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: It's all the same.
Time taken on course: Several hours.
Familiarity with subject before course: I knew a little about Christian and Islamic art but not much else.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: There's a surprising amount of content related to architecture, when I thought it was going to focus more on "traditional" art.
1-10 Difficulty level: 2. Easy peasy.
Course: Visual Communications
Course content: Text and pictures. Standard Sophia format.
Final exam format: Multiple Choice. 25 questions.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: It's all virtually the same, iirc.
Time taken on course: About 3 hours total.
Familiarity with subject before course: My hobbies include interior decorating, scrapbooking and other paper crafts, and photography, so I already knew most everything here from prior light reading.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: This is a super easy, basic class, even if you have little experience with visual arts.
1-10 Difficulty level: 1
Provider: Sophia
Course: Environmental Science
Course content: Text and pictures. Standard Sophia format.
Final exam format: Multiple Choice. 25 questions.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: It's all virtually the same, iirc.
Time taken on course: About 5-8 hours total? I didn't think to track my time.
Familiarity with subject before course: I've done some light reading on plastic pollution and caring for the environment, but nothing intense.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: Some of the answers were worded in a difficult way, so that multiple answers appeared to be correct. It seemed like the writer of the class really wanted to trip students up, moreso than teach them, lol. It's easy enough, though.
1-10 Difficulty level: 3
Provider: Sophia
Course: Spanish I
Course content: Text, pictures, audio files. Standard Sophia format.
Final exam format: Multiple Choice. 25 questions.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: It's all virtually the same, iirc.
Time taken on course: 5 days total, due to Touchstone grading. If I was brand-new to the language, it definitely would have taken longer.
Familiarity with subject before course: I've taken higher level Spanish classes, but didn't receive credit for the LL knowledge, so I took this for easy credit.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: There is way too much cultural content here on all 20-some countries where Spanish is a majority language. It covers huge lists of slang, foods, holidays, "famous" people from these places (most I've not heard of), etc. for each and every country. While this information is on the challenge questions and exams, you can use the search function for those questions, and just focus on learning the actual language. I promise you will not need to know 20+ different ways to say "boy" and "girl" in real life. My native Spanish-speaking friends didn't know half of these.
--
About the touchstones: There are 5 touchstones. The first two are essentially the same assignment, one in written format, the other in oral format. The next is a written assignment, and the last two are, again, the same assignment in both written and oral formats. They're very easy and straightforward, and only a couple paragraphs each.
1-10 Difficulty level: For me, 2. For someone learning Spanish for the first time through this course, maybe 6 or 7?
Provider: Sophia
Course: Conflict Resolution
Course content: All text. For these challenge questions, you are only given two attempts to correctly answer.
Final exam format: Multiple Choice. 25 questions.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: It's all in the same format, but the exact scenarios are different.
Time taken on course: Several hours, over the course of a week and a half.
Familiarity with subject before course: I've read a lot of nonfiction and feel like all the material is pretty common sense stuff that you come across in life, generally. I didn't know all the specific jargon, but it wasn't terribly difficult to follow.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: It's not necessary to read the actual course material. You should read through each scenario carefully before answering the questions, and just search the course content when specific jargon is used.
1-10 Difficulty level: 2-3. It's not difficult, but it's very repetitive and tedious. I was mind-numbingly bored throughout this course, so I kept putting off working on it, which is why it took me awhile.
Provider: Sophia
Course: Art History I
Course content: Text and photos.
Final exam format: Multiple Choice. 25 questions.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: It's all the same.
Time taken on course: Several hours.
Familiarity with subject before course: I knew a little about Christian and Islamic art but not much else.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: There's a surprising amount of content related to architecture, when I thought it was going to focus more on "traditional" art.
1-10 Difficulty level: 2. Easy peasy.
Bachelor of Liberal Studies with minors in Educational Studies and International Studies | University of Maine at Presque Isle, 2025
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