StraighterLine is a US education company that offers low-cost online education courses that are equivalent to the general courses required for a bachelor's degree. The American Council On Education's College Credit Credits Service (ACE CREDIT) has been evaluating and recommending college credit for the StraighterLine course. The company itself is not accredited, but has more than 130 partnerships with accredited colleges and universities that receive programs for credit.
Video StraighterLine
Course
The company mainly offers the content of the McGraw-Hill course delivered through the Moodle learning management system, very similar to the delivery model used by many online colleges and universities. StraighterLine offers students the ability to take a number of online coursework courses for $ 99 a month plus $ 59 courses. Straighterline requires proctoring for the final exam of the course (included in the registration fee). eTextbook is included for free with the purchase of the course.
StraighterLine offers over 60 online courses as of September, 2017.
The company has strategic partnerships with the Educational Testing Service and the Collegiate Learning Assessor, as part of a plan to expand into offering validated tests from leading education organizations.
Maps StraighterLine
Professor Direct
StraighterLine launches a professor-led course in December 2012. Professor Direct allows professors to set their own premiums on the course, charging the amount they choose per student. This is the first time a business or school has allowed professors to set their own prices for courses that lead to college credits. Students may choose between 8 and 15 weeks of cohorts, or self-running formats. At the time of the launch StraighterLine has 15 professors with a master's or doctoral degree.
Partners
StraighterLine has a network of over 130 partner colleges that guarantees full credit transfer, with nearly 2,000 additional agencies having received StraighterLine credits in the past. In 2016, the US Department of Education selected StraighterLine to participate in the EQUIP program to test financial aid partnerships with the Dallas County Community College District and the Board of Higher Education Accreditation. In April 2018, StraighterLine launched its new partnership through the EQUIP Pilot Initiative of the Department of Education. This program is the first of eight selected by the US Department of Education (DOE) for Quality Education through the Partnership Innovation initiative (EQUIP) to be launched to students. Through EQUIP experiments, students will be allowed, for the first time, to use federal student assistance to enroll in programs offered by innovative non-traditional education providers that partner with an accredited college or university.
The school started operations in 2009 and has reported serving nearly 70,000 students through August 2017.
History
The company was founded in 2008 as a division of Smarthinking, Inc., an online counseling provider, and was issued in 2010, shortly before Smarthinking was acquired by Pearson PLC. In 2011, the company was named one of the "10 Most Innovative Companies in Education" by Fast Company (magazine). In 2017, the company was named "Innovator Worth Watching" by The Christensen Institute. StraighterLine has had several rounds of investment, and in April 2012 received an investment of 10 million dollars. Investors include: FirstMark Capital, City Light Capital, and Chrysalis Ventures.
The company is growing rapidly, in January 2012 StraighterLine on 11 employees, in July 2012 at 22. In September 2017, the company was at 50.
CEO
Burck Smith is CEO and founder of StraighterLine. Ten years before launching StraighterLine in 2009, he founded SMARTHINKING, the largest online tutor provider for schools and colleges.
Criticism
Courses like Straighterline are very controversial with educators. Professors at Northern Virginia Community College, one of the schools involved with Straighterline, have voiced their objections to their administrators, citing the lack of standards and thoroughness for testing. In addition, complaints from students whose credits from the courses they completed are not transferred to the granting agencies have been registered in online reviews and with BBB. The Company maintains the A rating with the Better Business Bureau. Regional accreditation is more common among 4-year institutions and awarding degrees, and since StraigherLine is national (ACE accreditation) and not regionally accredited, there is often difficulty in transferring courses for credit to accredited institutions at the local level, although they relationship with the ACE credit program.
References
External links
- Company website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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