Statistics with excelsior?

BarbaraNM, ASN, RN · Jun 10, 2012

Hi,

Try ALEKS... they have a Statistics class that is ACE approved. If you go to their site, you can do a free trial, and see if you like the course... plus, it's only $20 a month! I did a College Algebra class in 1 week. It took 32+ hours, but I can do blocks of time on days off; cannot do 2 hours a week for 16 weeks! Good luck!

nursenora1 · Jun 10, 2012

Thanks for replying. I already took intermediate algebra with aleks to satisfy my math requirement for excelsior. I doubt the university I want to go to will accept the credit because it's not a letter grade. But I will call Monday morning to ask.

SummitRN, BSN, RN · Jun 10, 2012

There are a ton of community colleges with online statistics courses. They'll be cheaper than Excelsior and they'll be accepted at most any school you transfer them to, unlike anything from Excelsior.

Gradius · Jun 10, 2012

6 weeks at a Community College... you still have time to make Summer B.

nursenora1 · Jun 10, 2012

I do not want to take statistics at a community college. i am asking if anyone has taken statistics with excelsior. that was my original question. thx for your responses...

SummitRN, BSN, RN · Jun 11, 2012

I do not want to take statistics at a community college.

Any particular reason why? You said you didn't want to do it in person or over a full semester, but community colleges offer it online in an accelerated format. So... what is the deal?

nursenora1 · Jun 11, 2012

Even though you take a class online. You still have to go to a testing center every week to take tests. I do not have time to do that. I just need a fully online class that doesn't require traveling. All community colleges in my area requires you to do that.

SummitRN, BSN, RN · Jun 11, 2012

Mine didn't. Many don't. You don't have to do one in your area. Even out of state at a community college is about half that of Excelsior.

TiffyRN, BSN, PhD · Jun 11, 2012

Hey there NurseNora1:

I am finishing Statistics for Health Care Professionals: MAT 215 this week, just have one homework, one discussion and the final left. It is the 15 week course though, not the 8 week course.

I am so glad someone is asking about it. I cannot recommend it. Unless you already are good with Statistics and just need to run through the steps to get credit, this is not the way to do it. We were told there was no prerequisite to this course. If I had not had a good solid 1st year Algebra course in college, I would have been in serious trouble. The support consisted of the instructor posting multiple links to youtube videos and links to Khan Academy (which is great, but I didn't need to pay $1200 to watch those, they are free).

Sometimes you just need a simple explanation that involves someone pointing at something and saying "Hey, there's your problem" but this is not possible and the instructor was not supportive (though I will say he was prompt in his responses). We had to do some group projects but how do you coordinate with people that you can only contact through the school messaging site, no personal e-mails, no phone numbers. My latest assignment depended on me posting a statistical analysis of our data and then required I respond to the analysis of two other students. We were split into groups of 4 people. One person I'm pretty sure dropped out before mid-term, one other posted her analysis Sunday afternoon while I slept to work Sunday night and the assignment was due by 11pm (MN Eastern time). I managed to whip out an analysis between patients somehow. The other remaining student never got her analysis up. Potentially I loose points because I can't force this random person to get her analysis up in time. I wrote the professor and he offered no solution (he was like, yea, that's tough, lots of people wait til the last minute to post). Also, there were a couple of times when we got discussion assignments on topics that had not yet been covered by our lesson materials, so back to Khan Academy or other online resources I would go to try to learn it on my own so I could get credit for the class.

All this and I would like to make clear I am not a scorned student. I spent 3-6 hours a week the first 1/2 of the course studying. This escalated to 10-20 (not kidding) hours the second 1/2 of the course. I am carrying an average of 97 at this point and have figured that I will have to score lower than about 59 on the final to not get an A. I'm proud of that. But it is in spite of the design of this course and I give no credit to the instruction offered.

So if you are determined to do this through Excelsior, go ahead, but be warned, this course is poorly designed and managed. It is a new course and I believe March was the first time it was offered. Perhaps mine and other student's course evaluations will help improve the course, but I think it will be a while before that happens.

By the way, I just finished their course "Writing for the Professions" a few weeks ago. It was beautifully and logically designed with perfect flow. I had a sincere and appropriately critical instructor that I really respected. Not only was she helpful, she carefully considered any concerns I raised and dealt fairly with me.

I am so glad you asked this question!!!!!! I was hoping to get this information out there to other potential students regarding the limitations of this class. I hope Excelsior improves it as other courses I have taken with them have not had this problem.

frankie,RN · Jun 11, 2012

Thank you for that information. Im not taking statistics with Excelsior, but i am starting a 5week summer2 stats course soon. ive been wondering what sort of things to expect. my class is their first time offering it online as well..congratulations on your your A. :)