Ashworth proctor exam - is it possible to use online proctoring?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Emi_Ng, May 4, 2021.

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  1. Emi_Ng

    Emi_Ng New Member

    Hi everyone, this is Em who lives in Hong Kong. I have already obtained a Bachelor's degree from a local uni years ago, and I have just enrolled an A.S in Accounting at Ashworth for self-improvement & life-long learning due to the low tuition fees three days ago.

    However, I realized that Ashworth only accepted "in-person proctoring" according to their website. I have hesitation to continue with my A.S Degree, as in-person proctoring service is extremely expensive in Hong Kong (at least $200USD/ hour, so $600USD/ each exam...... x 4 exams in total for the Associate Degree)

    I have tried to search about using online proctoring service but didn't find any results.
    Just wondering if anyone could share the experiences of proctor exam @ Ashworth.

    Truly appreciate your help. Thanks!
     
  2. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Hi Em, and welcome. Have you reached out to Ashworth yet to ask about online proctoring? With the pandemic, I find it hard to believe they haven't developed some online process for this.
     
    Dustin likes this.
  3. Emi_Ng

    Emi_Ng New Member

    Hi Steve!
    Yes, I have written to Ashworth to ask if online proctoring is possible & explained them my difficulties. Just received their reply:
    "I do apologize but we do require in person proctoring."

    I am still within the 5 days grace period to get my full refund. I am struggling as it is impossible to ask librarians/ school admins/ teachers to be my proctor due to pandemic and social-distancing issues. Maybe I will have a last try and ask Ashworth once more about the possibility of online proctoring...
     
  4. sideman

    sideman Well Known Member

    Welcome to the forum Em. I have an associates and bachelors from Penn Foster College, the parent college that acquired Ashworth. At PFC you have the option of using a live proctor (which I was lucky to have available to me) or an online proctor. Like Steve suggested certainly contact Ashworth directly and ask if their policy has changed (maybe it's something as simple as not updating their site). If it has not, you may consider switching to PF's accounting program since you'll have the online proctor option and tuition is still around $79 per credit hour. Good luck.
     
  5. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    When I was at Ashworth, I had to nominate two people as a proctor and Ashworth chose one. He was a career counselor. Don't you have that option anymore? You typically won't have to pay because these could be professionals you know.
     
  6. Emi_Ng

    Emi_Ng New Member

    Thanks sideman, it's great to know that PFC has the option of online proctor exam! I was choosing between PFC/ Ashworth and I randomly picked Ashworth as I thought they should be the same...
    As my 100% refund grace period @ Ashworth is gonna expire by tomorrow morning, I am going to cancel my enrollment at Ashworth and switch to PFC as I won't be able to find free proctoring at local libraries / and I certainly won't pay $600USD/ per exam at private exam proctoring centers locally.

     
  7. Emi_Ng

    Emi_Ng New Member

    Thanks chrisjm18, as I dont' live in the US (I'm in Hong Kong), the public libraries don't proctor exams for free & the only option is to go to a private exam proctoring center, they would charge at least $600 USD for a 3-hour exam. I enrolled Ashworth as I thought it could be a cost-effective way to gain an A.S in Accounting with low tuition and online proctored exam.
    According to sideman, I'm pretty much decided to cancel my enrollment and switch to PFC for the online proctored exam option.

     
    chrisjm18 likes this.
  8. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Wow. I would do this too.
     
    Dustin and chrisjm18 like this.
  9. AsianStew

    AsianStew Moderator Staff Member

    靚女, hey, Ashworth, Penn Foster, are both Nationally Accredited institutions. They're fine if you're international, I usually recommend Regionally Accredited institutions. If you're just looking for personal improvement and self learning of specific subjects, you might want to take alternative ACE credits instead. That way, you can ladder up to an Associates and/or Bachelors degree later. Many Regionally accredited schools take ACE/NCCRS credits in addition to credits from Nationally accredited colleges or universities...

    This is what I suggest you do, take Sophia.org courses in Business. If you need more, take Saylor, StraighterLine, Study.com. You can ladder these into an Associates at Charter Oak State College, Exclesior College, or Thomas Edison State University. If you want something that's Competency Based, you can ladder that into Brandman, UMPI, Walden, etc. A majority will take only ACE credits, some will take NCCRS credits as well. I'll tell you more later, see you for now... 靚仔
     
  10. LearningAddict

    LearningAddict Well-Known Member

    Penn Foster bought Ashworth a few years ago but Ashworth is still set in it's ways about some things. They take the proctoring setup a lot more seriously than pretty much any place I've dealt with so I'm not surprised about the inflexibility.

    Aside from that, Penn Foster's system and method are practically the same. At one time I know that Penn Foster used to have a lot of ACE evaluated courses which helped give its courses greater transfer acceptance compared to the standard NA course. I haven't checked on that in a while so I don't know how much that still applies today.
     
  11. Emi_Ng

    Emi_Ng New Member

    Thanks AsianStew! I already hold a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration (a general BBA degree that covers subjects such as marketing/ law/ international business etc) from local uni. Have been working in the fashion industry for 10 years and started to notice that the competition in local job market is getting tough.

    I'm motivated to get a practical Associate Degree in Accounting for self-improvement and increase my competitiveness. Thought about getting a Masters or Grad Cert but they cost much more than I expected.

    Accounting certificates might work too, but for now, it seems PFC/ Ashworth kind of online colleges are the most suitable for me as I wanted at least an A.S Degree and fully online/ with online exam, with low tuition fees...

    Thanks for the info that you provided, I might further enhance my knowledge by taking additional online courses from the websites you mentioned :)


     
  12. Emi_Ng

    Emi_Ng New Member

    Thanks LearningAddict, frankly, I have been looking for a fully-online / with online proctored exam college with low tuition fees only, and as long as the college is legit and nationally accredited (since I'm overseas, I care less about NA/ RA) as this is not my primary degree and I wouldn't use this to transfer credits to other courses.. just wanted an additional degree in my CV to increase my competitiveness

    I have communicated with Ashworth again and they insisted that I should nominate at least two professionals as the proctor, I am giving a pass and wrote them to unenroll from the course.
    Gonna switch to PFC since the other members confirmed that they have online proctored exam as an option.


     
  13. Rachel83az

    Rachel83az Well-Known Member

    Have you looked into a degree from UMPI? A second degree from them could cost even less than a handful of Penn Foster courses.
     
  14. Emi_Ng

    Emi_Ng New Member

    Hi Rachel83az, no, I didn't know about UMPI before, thanks for your suggestion!
    Just went to their website, it seems doable I am determined enough and work on it at an accelerated speed ($1400/ each session) that I might be able to complete their course in just a few sessions.

    As tuition is extremely expensive for part-time local degrees here in Hong Kong ($20,000 minimum), I began to look for overseas online degrees last month, which I compared online degrees from UK (A bit expensive with very strict admission requirements)/ Australia (extremely expensive, an accredited accounting certificate costs more than $4500.... so I stopped looking), at last I've found PFC / Ashworth after my through research...

     
  15. Rachel83az

    Rachel83az Well-Known Member

    Because you already have a bachelor's degree, a degree from UMPI should require only the courses for the major/concentration that you want. For accounting, that would be 20 courses. You could cut that down to 14 or 15 using Sophia and InstantCert.
     
  16. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    I was just featured on Ashworth's Alumni Spotlight podcast. I will share think once I get it.
     
    Dustin, Emi_Ng, SteveFoerster and 2 others like this.
  17. LearningAddict

    LearningAddict Well-Known Member

    Wow! That is awesome! Congrats!
     
    chrisjm18 likes this.
  18. AsianStew

    AsianStew Moderator Staff Member

    This is what I was referring to earlier, you can get a Bachelors of Liberal Studies with a minor in Accounting. It'll look better than the Associates and it may even come in as cheaper overall. You can finish this with 10 courses and probably at $1400 USD. Basically get your credits sent to UMPI for an evaluation, then take Sophia.org at $79/USD a month, 2 courses at a time, all you can take during that month. Because it's a "minor" at UMPI, it should only require you to take at most 10 courses to round out the requirements and general ed/free electives.

    Another option is, skip accounting altogether and go for a Masters of Arts in Organizational Leadership, UMPI is $2000/term (8 weeks). Walden has options for MBA, Masters Human Resources, Heathcare Administration, and it's $2700/term (3 months). I would recommend Brandman as it's going to be merged into UMASS Global and the tuition is $3500/6 months. Many people who are single, have time on their hands, etc, can finish this in record time for an amazingly cheap price. A Masters is better than an Associates any day of the year!
     
  19. Emi_Ng

    Emi_Ng New Member

    Thank you, I will surly study all the details of these schools before I enroll again, I'll probably send all my transcripts to these schools to check about credit transfer (if possible) then decide which one to enroll... my goal is simple - low tuition/ fewest credits to obtain the degree :p

     
  20. Emi_Ng

    Emi_Ng New Member

    Congrats!!!! :)

    However, I have already unenrolled from Ashworth as 5 May was the deadline to be eligible get a full refund... the in-person proctoring was the major issue for me (since I'm overseas and proctoring isn't as common as in the States), otherwise I would definitely stick with Ashworth...

    At first I was a little worried about not being able to get the full refund as I read a lot of bad comments on net, surprisingly they replied within a day and completed the unenrollment process.

     
    chrisjm18 likes this.

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