Open Book Exam Courses

[motuterry]

This might ruffle some feathers. I'm OK with that. Bring it.

The recent post about Penn Foster courses that fulfill TESC requirements really bothers me. My understanding is that these courses have no required proctored exams. They are all open-book exam courses. If I'm wrong on this, then this only applies to courses that ARE open book exam courses (Straighterline and FEMA, for example).

I think that every single one of us should write ACE, TESC, Excelsior, and COSC and request that they stop accepting *ANY* course that has zero proctored tests. I don't care that ACE "approves" it. Their approval means nothing to me when anyone with half a brain and a bit of honesty knows that this is ridiculous. If they want to be legit, they should *stop* approving them.

The truth is that the integrity of our degrees is at stake. In the real world, people know that students cannot be trusted. Accepting these credits flies in the face of that.

For example: I just finished a Straighterline course earlier this week. What a joke. Every quiz's answers were freely available in the textbook's resources online and many of the exam questions (if not all--I didn't check since I'm not interested in cheating) were available via a Google search from abused services like Cramster or Yahoo Answers. The above is exactly why these courses should not be allowed to count for "real" college credit.

This isn't counting the other collusion that does go on. You know, like a student on this forum sending me a message asking me if I would give him copies of my exams from a course I just took for one that he just took since we were soon to be taking the other's course--yes, that happened. No, I didn't go along with it. (The other member was IgnazSemmelweis. I have zero problem with ratting out cheaters. Again, bring it.)

Could you learn from these courses? Sure. Of course you could. That isn't the point. You can learn the information that you need to know to do virtually *ANYTHING* without a college course. Name one thing that you can't learn outside of a college classroom. Seriously. The point is that it's supposed to be a good faith verification that you've achieved some level of understanding. You simply are not getting that with open-book exams and time alone with an internet connection.

CLEP credit is looked upon with disdain by some. I understand that, but it is still a proctored exam. It's a good faith effort to limit cheating and make sure that a student actually knows a good portion of the material covered. Even if it's short-term memory, you still *must* know the information at some point. That simply is not the case with a course whose testing is made up of nothing but open-book exams.

We can't keep this a secret. Eventually, our degrees will just start being worth less (if not worthless). It doesn't take much. When people find out that a good portion of a degree can essentially be faked, it lowers its esteem in the public eye. We will start seeing requirements for positions or higher degrees that explicitly forbid "our" schools. I've already seen it once for one school: Excelsior nursing grads are not allowed in Illinois due to a type of testing they do. I could see the same happening for other applications: professional designation requirements (CPA, CFP, etc.), grad education (law school, med, etc), and even businesses. There is a reason why national accreditation isn't widely respected; I think that this is it, or at least a large part of it.

They won't care that you personally didn't cheat, did learn, etc. They'll care that you had ample opportunity to do so.

Write these schools. Express concern. We need to do something about this asap.

It’s interesting to see how defensive and offended we become when we feel our online degrees are questioned.

Many years ago, I started out at an Ivy League school. Credit earned from this establishment is readily accepted anywhere. Several of my classmates were members of the football team. Oddly, most never attended class. One in particular later joined the NFL and is a well known national celebrity. I noted that he finished his degree while I quit in disgust during my first semester.

Harvard readily accepts transfer students from this university. Is Harvard diminished by this? Should Harvard degree holders feel obligated to defend themselves and are their degrees in jeopardy of being deemed “worthless”?

My point is this- if you feel an institution is taking shortcuts, reported them to the ACE. The ACE vigorously ferrets out scammers and will certainly investigate. If Penn Foster or Straighterline are not following acceptable practices, report them. As students, we have no obligation to police cheaters and should not suffer consequences from those who scam the system, whether this injury is from individuals or institutions. Those of us who have worked hard to EARN our degrees should not feel diminished by the acts of others.

I could have resumed my education anywhere I wanted. I chose Excelsior because I believed they offered a quality education. I’m proud of my accomplishments and pleased to continue with the college for my graduate studies. Online education is the future. Almost every university offers an online program and that approach will continue to expand.

Sirjake is correct at being outraged at cheaters. He would be hard pressed to find anyone on this forum not equally offended. In my view, the best response is for him is to report his concerns to the ACE rather than suggest anyone here should feel threatened or alarmed their hard work will be made “worthless.”

I believe Sirjake’s “bring it” comments were directed at those who would cheat the system and attempt to steal rather than earn. (If I am wrong here Sirjake, please correct me.)