Sophia Learning and University of Maryland Global Campus: A Powerful Partnership for Accessible Education
The rising costs of higher education and the increasing number of students who don't complete their degrees within the traditional timeframe have led to a greater focus on innovative solutions that promote student retention and degree completion. The University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC), a long-standing leader in adult education, has recognized the potential of Sophia Learning's self-paced, on-demand courses to address these challenges. This article explores the benefits of Sophia Learning, its partnership with UMGC, and how this collaboration is helping students achieve their educational goals more efficiently and affordably.
The Sophia Learning Advantage
Sophia Learning provides subscription-based, self-paced college courses that are recommended by the American Council on Education (ACE) for transfer credit. With Sophia’s on-demand, self-paced format, you can complete your courses on your schedule, at your pace. Sophia courses are available anytime, anywhere, and most can be accessed from any device. This flexibility is particularly beneficial for adult learners who often juggle work, family, and other responsibilities. Sophia has nailed down an engaging online teaching method that I managed to pass 100%, the site is pleasant to look at, the material is vastly more in-depth and challenging and their method makes it impossible not to learn.
Here's a closer look at the advantages of Sophia Learning:
- Self-Paced Learning: Sophia's on-demand format allows students to learn at their own pace, speeding through material they already know and taking more time on challenging concepts. Make quick work of your gen ed courses with Sophia’s self-paced, on-demand format.
- Accessibility: Sophia courses are accessible anytime, anywhere, on most devices, making it convenient for students with busy schedules and diverse learning environments.
- Affordability: As a Sophia member, you don’t pay for individual courses. Instead, you can take as many courses as you like during your membership period. There are no course registration fees or additional fees for material, textbooks or eBooks. Everything is included as part of your membership. Sophia's model of unlimited access to 70+ on-demand courses for one low price can significantly reduce the overall cost of education. 1 million+ courses completed and $1 billion+ in tuition saved.
- Credit Transferability: Sophia’s ACE® and DEAC-recommended courses have been reviewed for credit at more than 2,900 colleges and universities. The American Council on Education Learning Evaluations (ACE®) has evaluated and recommended college credit for over 70 of Sophia's online courses. These courses are designed to transfer to 100+ partner colleges and have been reviewed for credit at more than 2,900 other colleges and universities. The American Council on Education's (ACE®️) recommendation service has evaluated and recommended college credit for over 70 of Sophia's online courses.
- Support: Our learning coaches are here to support you every step of the way.
Sophia's effectiveness is reflected in student testimonials. "My advice is to dip your toe in the water. Sophia is a wonderful place to begin." "My experience with lab courses was wonderful. I was able to virtually do experiments and learn visually. It helped me look at the work I had already done in a different way." "This is the type of flexibility I needed."
UMGC's Commitment to Student Success
UMGC's history and mission have always been centered on serving working adults, including military personnel and veterans. Chris Davis, from UMGC, notes that the university started as the extension arm of the University of Maryland after World War II, with a mission to support veterans attending college utilizing GI Bill benefits. This mission expanded to include active-duty personnel worldwide. After the Cold War ended, UMGC pivoted to online learning to continue serving its diverse student population.
Read also: Maximizing Your Educational Investment with Sophia
This history influences UMGC's institutional culture, with a strong focus on:
- Student Completion: UMGC is focused on anything to get students to completion. Reducing the speed to degree, getting students to graduation and doing that affordably is what they're looking for.
- Personalization: I like to put these things under the umbrella of personalization; being able to award credit for what students know, whatever the source of their learning. It doesn't matter how many courses students take at UMGC, it matters how many of them get to graduation.
- Accessibility: To serve working adults, we also do internal evaluations of professional learning and credentials. UMGC recognizes that adult learners have multiple responsibilities and strives to provide them with opportunities to earn credit in ways that fit their lives.
The UMGC-Sophia Partnership: A Synergistic Approach
UMGC students can transfer Sophia courses into UMGC throughout their time at the university. The partnership between UMGC and Sophia Learning is a strategic effort to enhance student success by providing flexible, affordable, and accessible pathways to degree completion.
Recent UMGC analysis of students who completed Sophia courses demonstrates the positive impact of this partnership:
- Completed their UMGC first-term courses successfully at a 22% higher rate than students without Sophia courses.
- Continued to the second term at a 47% higher rate.
- Were enrolled in their fourth term at an 86% higher rate.
These results indicate that students who utilize Sophia courses are more likely to succeed in their UMGC coursework and persist toward graduation.
Overcoming Obstacles and Promoting CPL
UMGC actively promotes Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) to its students. They built it into the first course students take. When we teach a unit on degree planning, students learn about all of the alternative credit pathways that they can use at UMGC. The students that have been successful at Sophia are successful students. They have the skills to thrive in an online environment and they are among the most likely to succeed at UMGC. By providing information about CPL in the first term course, students take this course to meet a requirement for the undergraduate degree. It helps them get this message early on in their academic career with UMGC. Our success coaches promote CPL information to students when they talk to them about different options for earning credit. Behind the scenes, our team evaluates credit for prior learning already completed, and reviews student requests to take additional credit options toward their degree program.
Read also: Is Sophia Learning Worth It?
However, UMGC also acknowledges the challenges students face in pursuing CPL opportunities. Sometimes students are concerned, nervous, or scared of trying something different. We provide encouragement and advice to students about finding information on credit earning options, how to access references and study guides in preparation, how to document their experience for credit, and how these types of credit will meet degree requirements. We mentor and coach students so they can understand all their options and what they need to do for degree planning.
The Future of Accessible Education at UMGC
UMGC is committed to expanding its acceptance of alternative credit courses and becoming the most transfer-friendly institution in the galaxy. They plan to articulate more alternative credit courses into the major, including going beyond ACE recommendations. We brought back our bachelor of science in general studies to better support accepting transfer credit and other forms of CPL. We envision walking a student through their degree plan and what credit for prior learning and transfer credit they can bring in before a student applies to UMGC. We're focused on helping them shorten their time to completion. We're also communicating more about these great options to our students. We actively work with teams across the institution to make sure this information is accessible and widely shared, like creating a video about CPL to increase awareness. Credit for prior learning is a misnomer, as many of our students earn these credits while enrolled at UMGC. We constantly look to expand our network of partners including employers and other educational providers. In some cases, this takes the form of three-way partnerships: packaging Sophia courses with our courses to support their employees. Our 75 years of working with the military to educate active-duty service members around the world has equipped us with extensive capacity for these types of partnerships at scale. One of the themes I stress to my team is that we need to continue to build on this foundation to get even better at partnering to support the goals of our students.
This vision includes:
- Expanding CPL Options: UMGC aims to increase the number of alternative credit courses accepted towards degree requirements.
- Personalized Degree Planning: UMGC plans to provide students with personalized degree plans that incorporate CPL and transfer credit options before they even apply to the university.
- Increased Communication: UMGC is actively working to communicate CPL options to students through various channels, including videos and outreach programs.
- Strategic Partnerships: UMGC is actively seeking partnerships with employers and other educational providers to create pathways for students to earn credit through workplace learning and other non-traditional experiences.
Getting Started with Sophia Learning and UMGC
University of Maryland Global Campus has teamed up with Sophia to help you complete your degree more quickly and affordably. Available anytime, anywhere, and accessible by most any device, Sophia's self-paced courses let you earn general education credits on your schedule.
Students interested in leveraging the UMGC-Sophia partnership can take the following steps:
Read also: Sophia Learning to SNHU: Credit Transfer
- Explore Sophia Courses: Try any Sophia course for free (through the first challenge of a unit).
- Check Credit Transferability: Search through nearly 3,000 colleges and universities that have reviewed Sophia courses for credit. Contact your registrar or advisor to see if a Sophia course will transfer for college-level credit. Start with a free trial while you confirm which credits may transfer. Sophia has sent transcripts to Adams state university for review. We haven’t previously worked with . Check with your university’s registrar to see if they accept Sophia transfer credits.
- Enroll in UMGC: Apply to UMGC and speak with an advisor about incorporating Sophia courses into your degree plan.
- Utilize UMGC Resources: Take advantage of UMGC's resources for CPL, including the introductory course on degree planning and success coaching.
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