Provider: ASU Universal Learner Courses
Course: ECN 211: Macroeconomic Principles
Course content: Far more effort was put into creating this course than any other ASU ULC/EA course I have taken. Whereas many of the courses just throw lecture videos and PDF readings at you, ASU developed their own custom interactive journey through economics for this course. You'll follow an animated character as he encounters different economics concepts. Most of the course content is in those ungraded interactive pages. There are a few short lecture videos, but they play a minor role. Homework practice questions follow the learning objects. These allow unlimited attempts but are still a part of the grade. Then there are quizzes for each unit and two exams. Each exam covers about half of the course. Discussions and live sessions are optional but helpful.
Final exam format: 50 questions. Mostly multiple choice, but some more challenging selection and number types.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: The proctored final covered the last half of the course, and was addressed very well by the course materials. There is also an extensive and helpful optional review section at the end of the course before the exam.
Time taken on course: About 7-10 hours/week for 7.5 weeks
Familiarity with subject before course: I took the Sophia course a year ago, but rushed through it in a day.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: I really enjoyed this course. The interactive platform presents things in a way that is relatable to the real world. Hundreds of live simulations are sprinkled through the course that allow you to gain an intuition for economics through experimentation. The course team showed their sense of humor by inserting fun anecdotes and jokes throughout the material.
Because this course presents topics in several different formats, it works well for diverse learning styles. Regardless of whether you learn by reading, answering questions, or experimentation, this course will effectively teach you economics.
A massive amount of material is crammed into this course. Despite nominally being a macroeconomics course, it spends about half of the time teaching microeconomics. A bit of accounting is included as well. It's a good idea to take microeconomics and/or accounting I immediately after this course.
It is absolutely imperative to have a strong grasp of graphs, tables, charts, and equations before attempting this course. Many hundreds of those figures are used in this course, and you are expected to interpret them. If you have a strong intuition for these, you'll do well in the course. If not, finish college algebra first. There is a math warm-up and review in the Module 0: Prerequisites section. Complete that before committing to the course. If you struggle there, you won't be ready to take on this course.
1-10 Difficulty level: 4. This course takes a ton of time due to the amount of material included. If you put in the effort to go through all of the course items, and can keep up with the pace, you'll do fine.
Final grade: A. A curve was applied to all grade levels in my term.
Provider: ASU Universal Learner Courses
Course: ECN 212: Microeconomic Principles: Decision-Making Under Scarcity
Course content: Generally the standard ASU ULC format, with lecture videos, short readings, Cerego flashcards, homework practice questions, and unit quizzes. Two exams, each covering about half of the course. Optional but helpful discussions. The two optional live sessions were helpful for review. In particular, the second live session does an in-depth review of many challenging concepts included in the final.
Final exam format: 50 Multiple choice questions, proctored.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: I don't think the course did a great job at preparing for the final. I had to invest a lot of effort into figuring things out on my own. The quiz and exam questions are sometimes set up and formatted differently compared to the lectures, readings, and homework. There were a few minor concepts that I never really grasped at all.
Time taken on course: 7.5 weeks
Because of my knowledge from the ASU Macroeconomics course, the first half of this course was a breeze. I was able to skip over nearly all of the lectures and readings. I only spent maybe an hour going through the Cerego content mastery and figuring out the homework & quiz problems.
The second half of the course is very challenging. I had to watch and rewatch all of the lecture videos to get some understanding of the concepts.
Familiarity with subject before course: I took the Sophia course a year ago, but rushed through it in a day.
I completed the ASU Macroeconomics course in the preceding term, which covered a lot of microeconomics concepts.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: This is a very dry course. It was a big letdown after the great macro course. There are just PDF readings extracted from an OpenStax textbook, along with lecture videos also explaining and demonstrating the concepts. Unlike the macro course, there are very few interactive elements that allow you to gain understanding through hands-on experimentation.
It is absolutely imperative to have a strong grasp of graphs, tables, charts, and equations before attempting this course.
I strongly recommend taking the ASU Macroeconomics course in the preceding term.
1-10 Difficulty level: 4. You'll have to invest significant brainpower to figure out the second half of the course. Unlike the macro course, it's easy to get lost.
Final grade: High A. A significant curve was applied to the C grade in my term.
Provider: ASU Universal Learner Courses
Course: ACC 231: Uses of Accounting Information I
Course content: Like most ASU ULC courses, this course utilizes readings extracted from an OpenStax textbook along with lecture videos. Unlike other courses, this course places that content into a Sophia-like platform, along with practice and challenge questions. A significant portion of the grade is participation points, awarded for simply engaging with all of the content. After that, each module contains a quiz and an extensive applied accounting scenario. You'll be expected to use what you learned in the module to manage the books of a simulated lemonade stand startup. Multiple attempts are allowed in these exercises, with terse feedback on incorrect items.
Unlike most ASU courses, there are three cumulative exams. Only the final is proctored. Each exam covers everything in the course up to that point. Exams allow several notecards for formulas and key facts.
Optional but helpful discussions and live sessions.
Final exam format: 50 Multiple choice and true/false questions, proctored. The exam covers the entire course, with a focus on the previous third. All of the exams have similar question types and intensities. Several notecards are allowed for formulas, which you'll likely need.
Because of the grading setup in this course, it's possible to pass without the final (but it's still required to get credit).
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: I felt very well prepared. As with most ASU ULC courses, the exam questions are highly similar or identical to quiz questions.
Time taken on course: About 8-10 hours per week for 7.5 weeks. The content in this course takes a lot of time to get through.
Familiarity with subject before course: I took the Sophia course a year ago, but rushed through it in a day.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: This course does a really great job at teaching and applying accounting. It does require a significant time and effort commitment, but it will clearly teach you everything you need to know.
I took this course during its debut term. There were numerous irritating technical, content, and formatting glitches throughout the course. Thankfully, the course team and students were extremely engaged in the discussions nearly 24/7, constantly applying fixes, workarounds, and revisions. By the next time this course is offered, the quality should be quite high.
The first several weeks cover core accounting rules and principles, while the rest of the course explains how to apply them to specific situations. Make sure that you immediately understand and memorize the accounting equation. That should be your number one priority during the first weeks. Know what items count as assets and liabilities, and how increases and decreases are reflected as debits and credits. Once you understand this, you can derive many other things.
I took the ASU Macroeconomics course in the preceding term. I think the bit of accounting covered in that course allowed me to hit the ground running with a good initial grasp of accounting equations.
Whenever you encounter a key formula or rule, save a picture/screenshot. That will make preparing for the exams and writing out your notecards much easier.
1-10 Difficulty level: 4. The pace is intense but doable.
Final grade: High A. A generous curve was applied to all grade levels in my term.
That concludes all of my ASU EA/ULC courses so far! I'm still planning on several more this year to take care of lab science and math requirements as I get closer to my goal of >=60 RA graded credits.
Course: ECN 211: Macroeconomic Principles
Course content: Far more effort was put into creating this course than any other ASU ULC/EA course I have taken. Whereas many of the courses just throw lecture videos and PDF readings at you, ASU developed their own custom interactive journey through economics for this course. You'll follow an animated character as he encounters different economics concepts. Most of the course content is in those ungraded interactive pages. There are a few short lecture videos, but they play a minor role. Homework practice questions follow the learning objects. These allow unlimited attempts but are still a part of the grade. Then there are quizzes for each unit and two exams. Each exam covers about half of the course. Discussions and live sessions are optional but helpful.
Final exam format: 50 questions. Mostly multiple choice, but some more challenging selection and number types.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: The proctored final covered the last half of the course, and was addressed very well by the course materials. There is also an extensive and helpful optional review section at the end of the course before the exam.
Time taken on course: About 7-10 hours/week for 7.5 weeks
Familiarity with subject before course: I took the Sophia course a year ago, but rushed through it in a day.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: I really enjoyed this course. The interactive platform presents things in a way that is relatable to the real world. Hundreds of live simulations are sprinkled through the course that allow you to gain an intuition for economics through experimentation. The course team showed their sense of humor by inserting fun anecdotes and jokes throughout the material.
Because this course presents topics in several different formats, it works well for diverse learning styles. Regardless of whether you learn by reading, answering questions, or experimentation, this course will effectively teach you economics.
A massive amount of material is crammed into this course. Despite nominally being a macroeconomics course, it spends about half of the time teaching microeconomics. A bit of accounting is included as well. It's a good idea to take microeconomics and/or accounting I immediately after this course.
It is absolutely imperative to have a strong grasp of graphs, tables, charts, and equations before attempting this course. Many hundreds of those figures are used in this course, and you are expected to interpret them. If you have a strong intuition for these, you'll do well in the course. If not, finish college algebra first. There is a math warm-up and review in the Module 0: Prerequisites section. Complete that before committing to the course. If you struggle there, you won't be ready to take on this course.
1-10 Difficulty level: 4. This course takes a ton of time due to the amount of material included. If you put in the effort to go through all of the course items, and can keep up with the pace, you'll do fine.
Final grade: A. A curve was applied to all grade levels in my term.
Provider: ASU Universal Learner Courses
Course: ECN 212: Microeconomic Principles: Decision-Making Under Scarcity
Course content: Generally the standard ASU ULC format, with lecture videos, short readings, Cerego flashcards, homework practice questions, and unit quizzes. Two exams, each covering about half of the course. Optional but helpful discussions. The two optional live sessions were helpful for review. In particular, the second live session does an in-depth review of many challenging concepts included in the final.
Final exam format: 50 Multiple choice questions, proctored.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: I don't think the course did a great job at preparing for the final. I had to invest a lot of effort into figuring things out on my own. The quiz and exam questions are sometimes set up and formatted differently compared to the lectures, readings, and homework. There were a few minor concepts that I never really grasped at all.
Time taken on course: 7.5 weeks
Because of my knowledge from the ASU Macroeconomics course, the first half of this course was a breeze. I was able to skip over nearly all of the lectures and readings. I only spent maybe an hour going through the Cerego content mastery and figuring out the homework & quiz problems.
The second half of the course is very challenging. I had to watch and rewatch all of the lecture videos to get some understanding of the concepts.
Familiarity with subject before course: I took the Sophia course a year ago, but rushed through it in a day.
I completed the ASU Macroeconomics course in the preceding term, which covered a lot of microeconomics concepts.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: This is a very dry course. It was a big letdown after the great macro course. There are just PDF readings extracted from an OpenStax textbook, along with lecture videos also explaining and demonstrating the concepts. Unlike the macro course, there are very few interactive elements that allow you to gain understanding through hands-on experimentation.
It is absolutely imperative to have a strong grasp of graphs, tables, charts, and equations before attempting this course.
I strongly recommend taking the ASU Macroeconomics course in the preceding term.
1-10 Difficulty level: 4. You'll have to invest significant brainpower to figure out the second half of the course. Unlike the macro course, it's easy to get lost.
Final grade: High A. A significant curve was applied to the C grade in my term.
Provider: ASU Universal Learner Courses
Course: ACC 231: Uses of Accounting Information I
Course content: Like most ASU ULC courses, this course utilizes readings extracted from an OpenStax textbook along with lecture videos. Unlike other courses, this course places that content into a Sophia-like platform, along with practice and challenge questions. A significant portion of the grade is participation points, awarded for simply engaging with all of the content. After that, each module contains a quiz and an extensive applied accounting scenario. You'll be expected to use what you learned in the module to manage the books of a simulated lemonade stand startup. Multiple attempts are allowed in these exercises, with terse feedback on incorrect items.
Unlike most ASU courses, there are three cumulative exams. Only the final is proctored. Each exam covers everything in the course up to that point. Exams allow several notecards for formulas and key facts.
Optional but helpful discussions and live sessions.
Final exam format: 50 Multiple choice and true/false questions, proctored. The exam covers the entire course, with a focus on the previous third. All of the exams have similar question types and intensities. Several notecards are allowed for formulas, which you'll likely need.
Because of the grading setup in this course, it's possible to pass without the final (but it's still required to get credit).
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: I felt very well prepared. As with most ASU ULC courses, the exam questions are highly similar or identical to quiz questions.
Time taken on course: About 8-10 hours per week for 7.5 weeks. The content in this course takes a lot of time to get through.
Familiarity with subject before course: I took the Sophia course a year ago, but rushed through it in a day.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: This course does a really great job at teaching and applying accounting. It does require a significant time and effort commitment, but it will clearly teach you everything you need to know.
I took this course during its debut term. There were numerous irritating technical, content, and formatting glitches throughout the course. Thankfully, the course team and students were extremely engaged in the discussions nearly 24/7, constantly applying fixes, workarounds, and revisions. By the next time this course is offered, the quality should be quite high.
The first several weeks cover core accounting rules and principles, while the rest of the course explains how to apply them to specific situations. Make sure that you immediately understand and memorize the accounting equation. That should be your number one priority during the first weeks. Know what items count as assets and liabilities, and how increases and decreases are reflected as debits and credits. Once you understand this, you can derive many other things.
I took the ASU Macroeconomics course in the preceding term. I think the bit of accounting covered in that course allowed me to hit the ground running with a good initial grasp of accounting equations.
Whenever you encounter a key formula or rule, save a picture/screenshot. That will make preparing for the exams and writing out your notecards much easier.
1-10 Difficulty level: 4. The pace is intense but doable.
Final grade: High A. A generous curve was applied to all grade levels in my term.
That concludes all of my ASU EA/ULC courses so far! I'm still planning on several more this year to take care of lab science and math requirements as I get closer to my goal of >=60 RA graded credits.
TESU Class of 2024 BSBA-CIS+GM, BSIT, ASNSM-CS+Math, AAS-GEN
Earned credits from Sophia, SDC, ASU ULC, TEEX, Microsoft, Strayer, TESU, Saylor, DSST, CLEP, CompTIA, StraighterLine, and others since starting in April 2020
Earned credits from Sophia, SDC, ASU ULC, TEEX, Microsoft, Strayer, TESU, Saylor, DSST, CLEP, CompTIA, StraighterLine, and others since starting in April 2020
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