Will Online Universities Eventually Become Finishing Schools Given the Adoption of Sophia Learning, Study.com, and StraighterLine?

I’ve been looking into the growth of alternative credit providers like Sophia Learning, Study.com and StraighterLine. A lot of people on Reddit talk about taking credits from courses from these companies. I’m curious how people working in higher education think about all of this.

From what I’ve read on Reddit, universities are actively encouraging students to take courses with these providers.

I wrote an article describing online institutions as finishing schools. That they are ceding the first two years of academic instruction to alternative credit providers that offer inexpensive self paced courses.

The feedback and pushback that I received was that what I wrote was hyperbole, that the usage from these providers was minimal and had reached maturity. That it helps with completion rates, it gives students momentum, but it’s not widely adopted with partner universities.

So for people working at colleges/universities:

- are you seeing greater acceptance or active encouragement of Sophia, Study.com, and StraighterLine

- do you think online institutions will eventually become comfortable outsourcing a much larger portion of general education? How far does this go?

Submitted October 13, 2026 at 08:16AM by TruthHonestyJustice https://ift.tt/iwt5HXD

Canvas Refined: extension to add features to your canvas

Making your canvas look more appealing can help improve study motivation!

Forked from the popular bettercanvas, this extension adds dark mode, a better todo list, custom backgrounds, GPA calculator, grade history, global search and more! 100% free and open source forever, I do not plan to add ads or make money off of this.

The extension runs fully locally (except for fetching custom background images which is optional) and all data never leaves your computer.

I have developed this enough to a point where it should be 99% stable to use and there are currently around 2800 users across firefox and chrome

feature suggestions, feedback, and questions and welcome!

Landing Page | Source Code/GitHub

Chrome Download | Firefox Download

Submitted October 12, 2026 at 03:26PM by ProgrammingGuy_ https://ift.tt/4TeA6F9

Have you ever offered extra lessons while extremely busy?

Not sure about the flair.

Title, basically. On one hand my teacher complains about being so busy with other students (individual lessons), on the other he offers me (just me, as far as I am aware) extra lessons, if I would like, in the little free time he has during the day. I think he likes working with me, but it got me thinking, that while I was teaching (I am currently attending my second uni) I would never offer extra lessons when I felt I am extremely busy, as I would like to take a break and care a bit for my mental health.

Were you ever in a similar situation? What was your motivation? Was I a bad teacher for taking care of myself in this way lol?

Submitted October 12, 2026 at 12:15PM by wannakeepasecret https://ift.tt/mtOZF3k

Fixing education policy - different perspectives

I’ve read both of NHJ’s essays: the one that came out two weeks ago and the one from ten years ago.

A little background: I’m married to a New York City public school teacher. I'm married to a New York City school teacher for 26 years. I'm close friends with the principal. They both work at a low-income school. Because the school has Russian and Spanish language programs, about 30% of the kids live in shelters, and maybe another 65% live in public housing.

Before this, my wife taught at a school on the Upper West Side where all the kids came from two-income or two-parent homes.

The school she teaches at now is very rough. A parent physically attacked the PTA president.

Back to the NHJ article. She spent 8,500 words and left out the fact that the school is funded at $52,000 per pupil a year. Any reader with a heart and common sense would immediately assume the school is underfunded and “under-resourced.” That’s not the case.

I left a simple, good-faith comment on her Instagram about the missing funding figure, and a similar one on the New York Times Facebook page. I wasn’t trying to stir anything up.

About 30 people immediately piled on me and called me every name in the book for asking NHJ a question, so I had to delete the comments. It was awful.

My main question is: why don’t people in education policy listen to people like John McWhorter or Glenn Loury? I’ve watched their show on YouTube for years, and it’s been very insightful. John McWhorter wants schools to teach phonics.

It seems like everyone in progressive education policy is all about equity, which in practice has meant removing tests: dropping the SAT and graduate admissions tests. New York is phasing out the Regents as a graduation requirement. I have friends in San Francisco, where the district got rid of algebra in eighth grade, but parents fought to bring it back.

It just seems like we’re going to have this problem with schools forever. We’re always told the same thing: segregation and school funding. And we act like Title I doesn’t exist. New York City truly cares about its students. It spends so much per pupil, and it still feels almost futile.

Submitted October 12, 2026 at 08:56AM by Hank-Chinaski80 https://ift.tt/PQdRI50

uni student looking for someone with job to interview

hello, i am a french uni student who is studying english lit and i need to interview someone that works in a english field (as in teacher, translater, journalist, and so on) and was wondering if anyone here could perhaps help me.

it would be a short interview, around 15 to 20 minutes long where i would ask you questions about your field, why you chose this job and what you had to do (like studies for example) to qualify for it. i appreciate any and every answer, i don't have a specific job in mind however i would appreciate it if teachers could answer!

thank you so much for reading!

Submitted October 12, 2026 at 02:53AM by blobstosaur https://ift.tt/bvDij0U

How to become a teacher's aid?

I am not sure if this is the right subreddit but how do you become a teacher's aid in Washington? (Preferred option with scholarships/grants if tuition is needed)

Submitted October 11, 2026 at 08:47PM by cabinetman61 https://ift.tt/WFtCpqw

Generational intelligence

The Flynn Effect shows IQ gains of 15+ points per generation with environmental improvement. That suggests capacity wasn't the constraint—activation was. If we take that seriously, what does it mean that some populations have been systematically denied the kind of cognitively demanding work and education that builds skill across generations? Isn't that a mechanism worth exploring?

Submitted October 11, 2026 at 12:49PM by seecstahl https://ift.tt/fGeAwr0