Todd Wallack WP: For less than $100, I clicked my way toward a college degree in days

[LevelUP]

He's at it again. Is this article good or bad?

Latest Article: For less than $100, I clicked my way toward a college degree in days

He wrote 3 total articles.  Previous 2 articles:

Article 1: Students are speeding through their online degrees in weeks, alarming educators
Article 2: Colleges are accepting transfer credits from online platforms that aren’t schools

Previous DF thread on this topic:
https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...g%E2%80%99

[Mint Berry Crunch]

He's at it again. Is this article good or bad?

For less than $100, I clicked my way toward a college degree in days
https://archive.vn/Pfe4b#selection-237.0-237.68

"But I did learn just how quickly you can earn college credit using CTRL-F."

You're just cheating yourself if this is what you're doing to pass classes on Sophia. Essentially just taking advantage of the open-book exams that Sophia generously allows students to do. I will say that not every system is perfect, but Sophia has helped so many students achieve academic success through a cost-efficient pathway. There's always going to be bad seeds (and the author of the article didn't abuse Sophia from what I read), but those bad seeds are what often spoil the harvest. I personally have no issue with the way Sophia is set up; I actually encourage this and I wish more platforms were like this if they push for individuals to take exams. At least this way, there is less stress and you have to read through the material to find the answer. I personally think exams/quizzes are antiquated and that traditional education should reflect CBE principles in that it has you demonstrate your knowledge and doesn't use grade inflation like many other institutions out there. Everything should be a culminating experience with a final summative assessment.

[NotJoeBiden]

This is the same guy who did the UMPI/ Degree hacking hit piece a little while back.

[Mint Berry Crunch]

This is the same guy who did the UMPI/ Degree hacking hit piece a little while back.

Are you talking about the Washington Post one I've heard about?

[NotJoeBiden]

Are you talking about the Washington Post one I've heard about?

Yup.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education...e-hacking/

[Mint Berry Crunch]

Are you talking about the Washington Post one I've heard about?

Yup.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education...e-hacking/

So I was finally able to read this post and I have to say this guy seems like a quack and has no understanding of how reformative and engaging it is compared to traditional education formats. Most of this crap that is perpetuated by people like this still live in a time from years ago where they need to find ground to defend spending tens of thousands of dollars on a degree that they barely remember completing and probably coasted and or cheated through themselves. They also probably think McDonald's hamburgers still cost $0.15 cents, gas being a quarter of a dollar, and bought their houses for the price of 3 raspberries. This reminds me of the stigma that people have against Harvard's HES students.

"Educational" reporters such as these are out of touch with reality and have no idea what they're talking about. The history of education, especially in the United States is very interesting, and the same critics downplayed or dismissed the advent of educational technologies and how education itself was going to transform with the internet. UMPI recognized a problem that people had college credits, but no degrees. They created a program that allowed working adults to complete a degree through CBE format, recognizing their experiences and responsibilities (This is the basis of Malcolm Knowle's theory on andragogy). Even up until the 1990s, many institutions/people didn't distinguish the difference between pedagogy and andragogy until behavioralists established this. The adult learning experience has always been an interesting debacle and juggling act. The people are happy (at least those in the program are), the institutions are happy (since they receive more students and more money), and industries are happy (since they receive educated individuals with education, new ideas, applied theories/research, and credentials). There will always be someone who hates somethings.

As Stephen King himself said: "I have outlived most of my critics. It gives me great pleasure." UMPI and WGU will and are doing just fine

I have more to say, but I'll leave it there

[wow]

He's at it again. Is this article good or bad?

Latest Article: For less than $100, I clicked my way toward a college degree in days

"I cheated so I'm going to assume everyone else does to."

or

"I figured out how to put zero effort into learning and stupidly assume that the only place one can do that is Sophia.org"

But the one paper I wrote didn’t require much effort.

Because you're a professional writer, idiot.

All the classes are pass-fail, so the exact score doesn’t matter; students just need 70 percent overall to pass. And if students do poorly on a test or assignment, they can try again.

Um ... in most colleges, you only need 70 percent overall to pass.

This guy is severely lacking in perspective, common sense, and basic reasoning.

[sanantone]

Redditors talk too much.

[ReyMysterioso]

Yeah, I blasted through my Sophia classes pretty quickly and pretty easily. But guess what? I also passed 60 credit hours of non-CBE classes at Arizona State U., 9 hours at Jacksonville State, and somewhere between 12-18 at other institutions I don't want to bother digging through my spreadsheets to list... all on a regular semester schedule with weekly assignments, proctored exams, the dreaded discussion board requiements, capstones, research papers, and in one class I even recorded a goth rock vampire concept EP as my culminating project. (Got a perfect score on it too.) I've even sat my butt in a seat at a brick and mortar university or two and once got absolutely wasted in the tailgate party before a football game like many Big State U. grads.

Not all of us who degree hacked are cheaters and fakers. Some of us just happen to already have a LOT of knowledge.

[durain]

We need to face a critical vulnerability:

The ease of earning 90 transferable credits via Sophia and Study.com has been amplified by generative AI, creating a significant integrity gap.

Without a reliable method to differentiate AI-assisted test-taking from genuine human comprehension, the value of these credits are diluted.

Continued inaction will inevitably cast a shadow of doubt over the credibility of any degree that accepts a large volume of these transfers.