Saylor.org Course Exams Earn College Credit Recommendation

Discussion in 'CLEP, DANTES, and Other Exams for Credit' started by SteveFoerster, Dec 12, 2012.

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  1. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

  2. AV8R

    AV8R Active Member

    very interesting.
     
  3. GoodYellowDogs

    GoodYellowDogs New Member

    I wish they would add some upper division classes :)
     
  4. LearningAddict

    LearningAddict Well-Known Member

    Whatever happened to the partnership with Straighterline? I haven't heard anything about it since the initial press release back near the beginning of the year.
     
  5. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

  6. soupbone

    soupbone Active Member

    I'm surprised this thread didn't receive more interest. This is huge news for distance and free learning. Great article Steve.
     
  7. jackrussell

    jackrussell Member

    I have not heard of NCCRS, what is their standing as compared to DETC or the regional accreditors?
     
  8. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Where did you see NCCRS? Saylor's courses are ACE evaluated, which is a different process from accreditation but which leads many regionally accredited and nationally accredited institutions to accept such courses as the equivalent to transfer credit.
     
  9. jackrussell

    jackrussell Member

    When I accessed the link given by the OP, this is what they had written

    The National College Credit Recommendation Service (NCCRS, Regents Research Fund, USNY) has approved three Saylor.org course exams for recommended credit at over 1500 cooperating colleges and universities. Students passing a proctored exam can potentially obtain three credits for each of the recommended courses:
     
  10. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    Yes, they are not ACE-evaluated; they are approved for college credit by NCCRS. Neither ACE nor NCCRS is a regional or national accreditor. They are organizations that evaluate non-traditional courses and tests and make college credit recommendations. In some cases, it might be easier to transfer NCCRS and ACE-approved courses than nationally-accredited courses to regionally-accredited schools. ACE-approved courses are more widely accepted than NCCRS-approved credits.
     
  11. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    I stand corrected -- I thought they were ACE evaluated, and I didn't recognize "NCCRS" because I'm more familiar with their old name ("national PONSI").
     
  12. LearningAddict

    LearningAddict Well-Known Member

    PONSI was such a brilliant name to have, smh. It doesn't make one think of PONZI scheme at all...
     
  13. ryoder

    ryoder New Member

    Do students learn the material and then take a single comprehensive test at the end? If so then I don't think a lot of students will like it. Most students like getting half their credit from assignments so that their test anxiety lowers a bit. Its a common topic on sites like this where students are afraid of the one big test model. If you are going to do the one big test, why not just take a CLEP/DSST which is recognized almost universally?
     
  14. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    I can sort of understand this, but I still think it's a misnomer that exam-only processes are typically referred to as "high stakes testing". When they cost so little, especially relative to an actual course, perhaps they should be called "low stakes testing".

    Someone might prefer Saylor Foundation courses to CLEP because (1) the learning materials and exam are tightly integrated, (2) the learning materials are available without cost, (3) subjects are offered that aren't available by CLEP or DSST, or (4) they're already interested in using the credit at an institution that is known to accept them.
     
  15. Jonathan Whatley

    Jonathan Whatley Well-Known Member

    There are also populations for whom CLEP and/or DSST testing centers aren't easily accessible. There's apparently not a single CLEP center in ANY of China, India, Russia, Brazil, and I stopped there but you get the idea!

    Also consider people with severe disabilities. Also, prisoners.
     
  16. stryder144

    stryder144 New Member

    Good for CLEP Prep?

    Sorry for posting in an older thread, but I felt it was the best one to post to. Has anyone used any of the Saylor.org courses exclusively to study for a CLEP/DSST/ECE? If so, were you able to pass the exam first time?

    This site has a large amount of data in it and the courses look well made. Naturally, the best way to understand the quality of the data is to test it against a recognized standard, such as CLEP/DSST/ECE. So, before diving headlong into a course, with the intent of using it in order to prepare for a CLEP, I thought I'd ask the above question.

    Cheers,
    Jim
     
  17. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    Jim, the way to check this is to pull up the CLEP exam content page that breaks down the % of subjects and line it up against the course(s) you are looking at. I will tell you next week if their Educational Psychology course works for the CLEP Ed Psych, I held a virtual study group using their content. The first participant is testing in a few days.
    When I wrote the outline, I found Saylor may have went a little too in-depth in a few areas as opposed to what might be necessary for passing an exam, but your mileage may vary. You can google "Sparks Charts" which are also free and online. I think you could use any Saylor + Sparks to pass any CLEP/DSST out there. No question in my mind.
     
  18. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    I've never used Saylor to study for anything, but if you plan to take a TECEP or Uexcel ECEP in the future, Saylor is working with TESC and Excelsior to make course content match up with those exams. Education-Portal.com makes videos specifically for ECE (now Uexcel ECEP), CLEP, and DSST. I used Learner.org videos to study for the Psychology and U.S. History I CLEPs after reading somewhere that their videos eerily line up with some of the CLEP and DSST exams.
     
  19. Damnation

    Damnation New Member

  20. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    That list is a cool find. They don't have much yet, but I'm sure they'll have a lot more by next year.
     

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