The official guide to self-study RA courses from ASU, BYU, UIdaho, etc.

[jch]

I finally had time to write my reviews on the new science courses. I combined my writeups due to the related nature of the courses. 

Provider: ASU Universal Learner Courses
Course: BIO 100: The Living World / BioBeyond
Course: SES 106: Habitable Worlds / HabWorlds
Course content: These are science courses for people who despise traditional science courses. There are zero lectures, quizzes, or exams. Everything is structured as experiential learning activities on the Inspark Smart Sparrow platform. There are many interactive simulations, with some larger virtual projects. 
BIO 100 has minimal math, mostly just understanding graphs and doing arithmetic. 
SES 106, on the other hand, heavily uses scientific notation. You'll need to be comfortable working with that. I strongly recommend prior completion of College Algebra. 
SES 106 has you do all of your calculations using spreadsheets. You will need to know how to write and use spreadsheet formulas. Take CIS 105 before this course if you aren't experienced with excel or alternatives. 
Time taken on course: As with most of the ASU ULC courses, the time requirements provided in the syllabi are grossly exaggerated. It's possible to grind out BIO 100 in two weeks or less given sufficient time and stamina. A handful of my peers did it in less than one week. SES 106 could probably be finished in 2-3 weeks. 
I strongly suggest trying to finish each module in a single sitting, and each unit in a single day. Otherwise, you'll have to backtrack and get lost.  
Familiarity with subject before course: I completed the Sophia Human Biology and ASU Human Origins courses last year, which had some relevance to BIO 100. Near-zero familiarity with any of the SES 106 subject material, though. 
I've previously completed College Algebra at Sophia and Computer Apps at ASU and Sophia. 
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: The first week of both courses is an introduction to related science fundamentals. Much of the content is duplicated across BIO 100 and SES 106. If it's straightforward, you're ready to take on the courses. If not, brush up on your core skills first. 
Both courses allow attempting items multiple times for better scores, although there is sometimes a penalty. 
The digital content is very computer-intensive. When running the simulations, quit everything else running on your computer. I've never heard my laptop fans spin as intensely as they did during the BIO 100 inside the cell simulation. 
Have the help site up in another tab or window as you work through these courses. It often provides critical instructions or information not included in the main window. 
Often, some of the simulations will misbehave or get into a bad state. When this happens, perform a hard reload of the page with Ctrl+Shift+R. This refreshes the page without using the browser cache, which usually fixes wonky behavior. If some content isn't visible, try zooming in or out. 
BIO 100: Unit 2 is extremely tedious. Try to take good field notes covering everything in the text box and images during the observations. You'll figure out the tags when organizing the classification later. Focus on things like where the organism lives, if/how it moves, and how it gets energy. Unit 6 is very challenging. I often felt completely lost and had to redo a few modules
Take ASM 246 Human Origins after BIO 100. The education on species classification, evolution, and fossils will make that course substantially easier. 
SES 106: do not try to handle the calculations by hand! Properly set up and organize your formulas in spreadsheets as the course prompts you to do. You'll need to refer back to your formulas and results later. Google sheets is fine, you don't need excel. 
Difficulty: 2-3. These courses are really a test of your diligence as a student, not scientific prowress. If you invest the effort and patience, an A is very attainable in BIO 100. SES 106 is a bit more challenging but still doable. 
Final grade: High A in BIO 100. Unfortunately, due to a sudden medical issue and the impending start of my TESU courses, I only made it about halfway through SES 106 this time. Might try it again in the future. 
Related opportunities: there are some double-dipping possibilities here. Together, BIO 100 and SES 106 cover much of the content on the Natural Sciences CLEP. 
Related to SES 106, both ASU and InstantCert offer astronomy courses. I haven't taken them, so I don't know if they would make sense to take before or after SES 106. 
Suggested Plan: In a preceding term, take Computer Apps and College Algebra
Sign up for BIO 100 and SES 106 together. Complete the first unit of both courses during the first week, then pay the credit eligibility upgrade fee. 
Do BIO 100 over the next 2 weeks, then SES 106 over the next 3 weeks. Meanwhile, register for the CLEP natural sciences course on modernstates. Later, fill in any remaining gaps and take the exam. In the next term, take ASM 246 Human Origins at ASU. 

Other new ASU courses: I see that Inspark lists several other smart courses on their website, including Critical Chemistry and Anatomy & Physiology Basics. Both of these courses appear to be in use at regular ASU and/or ASU digital prep already, so hopefully, they'll come to ULC eventually. I really want to avoid that cursed chemistry for engineers course. 
In other news, the new ASU ULC Psychology course debuted in August. Another term starts in October, which I may pursue.

I did manage to get through HabWorlds this time around with a high A. It took me about a week working around 8 hours per day, although my notes and spreadsheets from last time sped up the first third of the course. Completing SES 106 in 2-3 weeks is definitely doable. 
I'd like to re-iterate that effectively utilizing spreadsheets is critical for success and efficiency in this course. Every time you encounter a formula, be sure to set it up in your spreadsheet. As appropriate, combine formulas to make a master spreadsheet for each unit which automatically performs multi-step calculations. The later units have less hand-holding regarding the formulas, so pay attention to avoid missing one. When you reach the final project, the quality of your spreadsheets will determine whether you spend a few hours plugging and chugging or several days performing error-prone manual calculations. 
The habitable hunt project is separated into sections corresponding with stars, planets, and habitability units. I'd recommend doing the related project component after completing each of these three units. If you select about 100 stars, you should have enough variability to find all scavenger hunt items. Although this seems like a lot of work, using your spreadsheets, the assessments, sorting the columns, and dual monitors means it will only take a matter of hours to get through them all. I collected 105 stars, completed the scavenger hunt, and found three 'habitable' worlds in about 5 hours.  
The final two units on life and survival copy significant portions of their content from BioBeyond and have no relevance to the final project. There are no new formulas introduced and no assessments to pass. Thus, I'd recommend doing them after finishing the project. 
As I predicted, BioBeyond + HabWorlds + ModernStates is good enough to pass the Natural Sciences CLEP. I scored in the 70s and picked up six more 'free' credits. This is a good plan to knock out all of your science/natural world learning in eight weeks.