Arno N.
Strange e-mail communication, fair grading
I'm currently in the trial phase. Maybe there is a misunderstanding on my side, but I understood that I could review the course content until the first assignment to decide whether I want to subscribe to unlock the full course. However, after the first sub-chapter (and having learnt only about general science topics unrelated to the course), I'm already being prompted to subscribe, so I haven't seen the assignment yet, which I thought I would. AFAIK, I did not consent to any newsletter, but get bombarded with sarcastic-sounding emails every day, i.e., "I love overpaying for education" or saying "goodbye" multiple times in various dramatically formulated ways. It's probably supposed to make people take action, but in my opinion, such marketing tactics would rather suit a shady (fake) "university" online video course than this ACE-accredited institution. I have a high opinion of you, and that marketing strategy (which is supposed to attack my university, right?) drags it down. The joke's on your country, as in my country it's actually free (as it should be). While I am considering subscribing in the near future, I certainly won't do it for such childish newsletter titles. May update the review as I progress. Update 1: I've subscribed and then disabled the automatic extension since I've already prepaid for 4 months. Sophia Learning immediately sent me a toxic e-mail, essentially saying that they're sad about my decision to leave. First of all, I simply want to prepay what I actually intend to use without a surprise charge occurring on my card in a few months. Why isn't it obvious that people primarily use this platform temporarily until the point when there is no content left that sparks their interest? This isn't a movie streaming platform that I would subscribe to for years because they're continuously adding more movies than I could ever watch. Regarding courses: Some are nicely narrated with pre-recorded presentations while others provide audio narration done by terrible-sounding (sorry, but true) A.I. voices, where I believe if I used my web browser's narration, my ears would still suffer, but at least I could understand what it is saying. Maybe don't try providing audio narration at all costs, but only when it isn't a computer-generated mess. So far, Sophia continues to be a great choice for me (transferability yet to be tested). Update 2: Grading seems fair; but sometimes way too good. Transfers of A.C.E.-approved courses work for free via Credly as long as the university accepts it. Credly badges are issued automatically on course completion after initially linking the account. Could've told me though, during sign-up, that the other transcript company they partner with (Parchment) charges money (not much when only requiring one transcript at the very end). Some courses have video lectures (with several instructors to choose from). The course limit (2 concurrent ones) feels like a contradiction of "unlimited courses" and becomes a bit annoying when traveling, as I'd like to do other, quiz-based courses but not write essays on my phone. Currently, I'd have to drop a course just to focus on a different one (and hopefully not loose my progress?). Some learner types also don't like to 100% focus on one class but instead do multiple simultaneously. AFAIK they're not loosing money if they'd raise the limit, so I don't see why they'd arbitrarily limit it. Update 3: I've had some issues and contacted the learner support; they replied swiftly, and while they could not change the course itself, they gave me an important pointer that has significantly helped me. Using Sophia Learning was really efficient for me; I was able to complete about 3 to 4 courses per month.