BUS106 Review

Aaaaah…..philosophy.

Blurb About Course

This course introduces the ethics branch of philosophy to the world of business.  You will cover theories, great names in philosophy, discover with is really “ethical”, and examine various business issues in light of those discoveries.

Opinion of Course

After all those scandals at the turn of the century someone got the brilliant idea to make business majors take an ethics course and this is the result.  I have mixed feelings about this course, it did some things really well but the textbook was…..boring.  Really boring.  I dreaded opening it because all it did was numb my brain.  So just keep that in mind, this textbook is boring and you will hate it.

Now that being said, what did I like?  Well each chapter had some assigned readings that applied what you had just studied to real life situations.  I’m in a favor of short reading supplements to SL courses so I was pleased with this.  They were thought-provoking and well-done.  I also like the fact that such a cheap course is available to meet the Ethics requirement at TESC and COSC!  I was thrilled when I saw this course was available.

Each chapter also had questions.  Because the chapters were so mind-numbing I went through these in order to force myself to reexamine the material and make sure I got it (otherwise I’d just skim it to get it over with).

How To Get The Most Out Of The Course

Here’s what I recommend to both get an A in the course and learn the material:

Do the end-of-chapter readings and answer the end-of-chapter questions.  This will develop your thought process in this area.  Also get the textbook, although I would actually recommend the eBook.  The book has a poor index and the eBook is searchable (I’m told) and that will come in handy in the tests.

SL provides online homework to go through and I found that helpful as well.

For midterm and final:

Like I said, before: the eBook.  Get the eBook!  The final and midterm are open book so you can search and find the answers quicker (the index is just…..not well-done.  Yeah.).

A lot of the questions don’t make sense because they come straight out of the textbook so you WILL fail if you don’t get the book.  So….get the book.  Get the book.  Get the book!  Even though it’s boring, get the book.

Course Tips and Tricks

The eBook is searchable so why get the regular book when you can get the awesome, “this will really help when I take the final” one?  I believe it’s available from SL and possibly Chegg.

There are also additional practice questions online from McGraw-Hill, they’re for the 3rd edition of the book so some will be different (just fyi).  Link: 3rd Edition

My Ratings/Suggestions for Course Improvement

Rating: 4/5 – I am not counting the textbook and that is why the rating is so high.  They provide homework quizzes, it’s pretty easy to get through because there’s only six tests, I like including additional reading on the topics, and it’s nice to have a cheap course for college reqs.

The changes I’d recommend for the course are as follows:

Please change the textbook.  Just….please.

How Course Transfers

Transfers to COSC as “PHL485” and meets the “Ethical Decision Making” requirement for GE (I need to confirm with my Academic Counselor that it counts as UL credit).  Meets the TESC ‘Responsible Ethical Leadership” requirement for GE.

Update (June 2015): While COSC will list its transfer equivalent as PHL485, the course is not counted as UL credit.  My advisor told me I could appeal if I thought it should be but honestly?  I don’t.  But that option’s on the table if anyone feels otherwise.

Service After Your Subscription Expires

There are some things I really love about Straighterline (like cheap college courses, hehe) and there are some things I really hate and this is one of the latter.

Generally speaking, Straighterline has been great about getting back to me within a reasonable time frame (unless I’m asking them to relook at a disputed question, lol).  June 25th was when my subscription expired however.  I had a question about transferring some of my courses to one of their partner colleges and emailed after this date.

Whoa, suddenly no one is available!  My ticket was just closed with no reply listed and I got a vague email from a Student Advisor saying he was available to help me get started with Straighterline (Yo, I just finished).  I emailed him back asking the same question and…….wow, no response.

Take note, people.  Get all your questions in BEFORE your subscription expires cuz it seems Straighterline doesn’t feel like answering questions after you’re not subscribed anymore.  This is disappointing to be sure.

I’ll probably be taking a couple more courses with them though in a year or so, guess I’ll be saving up my questions ’til then.

MAT101 Review

Disclaimer: I wasn’t able to complete this course, I ended up going with ALEKS to first supplement the course and finally just switched completely over to them.

Blurb About Course

This is a college-level Algebra course, perfect for meeting college math requirements.  You will cover everything from basic Geometry to linear and quadratic equations to graphing.

Opinion of Course

Ugh, where do I even begin?  I really don’t think this course was a good fit for me.  I’m one of those people who needs detailed breakdowns and then a million problems to practice on until I know it by heart.

This course does not do that.  I tried both the presentations and the textbook (which is horrible and expensive), I went slow, I had a friend who’s a math major tutor me, I used SL’s tutoring, and I didn’t make it very far.

Bottom line is: I don’t think this course is geared towards people who learn math like me.

How to Get the Most Out of the Course

Since I didn’t finish it I can’t really help you much here except to say you will be slightly less lost with the textbook.  I looked through one of the tests right before my subscription expired and it seems to be a good reflection of the topics covered in the textbook, so if you can manage it learn the principles taught there and you should be okay (the tests are multi-choice, btw).

SL also has a MAT101 with an actual teacher (maybe I wasn’t the only one who struggled, hehe).  If my review’s making you freak out but you still like the idea of SL then check out that option.

Course Tips and Tricks

Can’t really comment on this.  Learn the principles covered in the textbook for the tests, I guess.

My Rating/Suggestions for Course Improvement

Rating: 1/5 – I was so so disappointed.

If you’re a high school student who did okay in high school math and have just finished up Algebra 2 then you can take a crack at this and probably do well.  If you’re someone who has had to keep their skills in algebraic math brushed up you will probably do well too.  I basically think this course is for those people who are already good at math or confident in themselves.

If you’re out of practice then you have several options.  You can choose the professor-led Algebra course.  You could also supplement with a better written textbook or ALEKS.  Or go with something entirely different, it’s up to you.

The changes I’d recommend for the course are as follows:

Change the textbook.  Seriously, even with SL’s ebook option it is waaaaay too expensive for a poorly written piece of trash.

Also maybe incorporating a homework generator, where problem types that will be on the quizzes can be practiced until you’ve mastered the concept.  That would make this course an option for people like me.

How Course Transfers

I have not personally experienced it but am told it meets the GE math requirement for Thomas Edison State College’s “Intellectual Skills”.  For Charter Oak State College it would most likely meet the GE “Mathematics” requirement.

FIN101 Book Review

cover from Amazon.com

Overall, I liked this book.  I felt it had good organization and each chapter has forms to allow you to put into practice what you’ve just studied.  By the time I was done I had a good cursory knowledge of various financial matters.

The index is adequate but during my final there were a couple things I couldn’t find anywhere in my book (I still have no idea where they were o.O).  So it’s not the best but it’s still pretty thorough.

Even if you never take a personal finance class, I would recommend this textbook.  Reading through it by itself will be beneficial.  My only caution is that I don’t believe the healthcare portion is accurate anymore, so keep that in mind.

I got it for….under 10 bucks I believe on Amazon: 3rd edition

Rating: 4/5 stars – good coverage, good index (but not stellar).

FIN101 Review

If you’re looking for an easy 3-credit elective class with real world applications then this course is for you!  It doesn’t satisfy GE at either Thomas Edison State or Charter Oak State but I feel like a personal finance class SHOULD be a GE requirement, especially with all the student loan hoopla recently.

Blurb About Course

This is an introduction to the big, bad world of money!  You’ll cover everything from budgeting to credit cards to buying a home to retirement planning.  Each topic in this course gives you frank advice to help you make wise financial decisions.

Opinion of Course

Well, I loved it.  It was an eye-opener and educational.  I haven’t gotten to the point where I need to buy a car or a home yet but I feel when I do I’ll be much more confident than I would be without this course.

The course has a quiz for every topic which I liked because it spreads the grade points out a bit and lets me focus on one topic at a time.

How to Get the Most Out of the Course

You know the drill: buy the book and read it!  This course has homework quizzes which are somewhat helpful, although they don’t grade right so that’s annoying.

You don’t have to do it but SL also “assigns” you the after chapter worksheets, which basically help you with making a budget and stuff like that.  Perfect for immediate real-life application.

Course Tips and Tricks

This course’s final had several questions from previous tests on it so save those.  I took sticky notes and wrote the chapter titles on them so I could find them easily during the final.  The book’s pretty well organized but there’s a lot to cover.

The final also asked me one or two obscure questions that I couldn’t remember from the book.  Huh?

My Ratings/Suggestions for Course Improvement

Rating: 4/5 – excellent coverage of the topic, okay tools for final and midterm preparation available, applies the stuff to your life

The changes I’d recommend for the course are as follows:

First off, fix the homework quizzes so they give accurate feedback.  In the first couple I believe most of the rightly answered questions were marked “incorrect” and most of the incorrect ones were mark “correct.”  In the later ones everything was just marked “correct”.  That was annoying.

The health care topic needs to be updated now.  This’ll probably necessitate upgrading to a new, updated textbook.

How Course Transfers

This course transfers to Thomas Edison State College as BUE-101: Personal Finance.  It will not fulfill any of the GE requirements (so you can’t use it for an Associate’s in General Studies).

It transfers to Charter Oak State College as FIN110: Personal Finance.  It can be used as a free elective for any of the degrees.

Back in Da House

Hello everyone!!!!

I finished up my last Straighterline course about two weeks ago and everything else needed for my AA is pretty much done as well.  So basically, I’m back!  I’m working on reviews of the courses I’ve taken as well as a couple of opinion and advice posts and those should be releasing in the next couple weeks.

In the mean time, if you have questions just comment on my posts and I’ll be happy to tell you what I know when I get a sec. 🙂