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StraighterLine

Leading Provider of General Education Courses:

● Since 2008, StraighterLine has helped colleges and universities attract and retain students and helped

students lower the cost and risk of earning a degree.

● StraighterLine offers 60 online, competency based, general education courses directly to students for a

$99/month subscription after a free trial.

● Enrolled over 30,000 students in last twelve months. Rapid growth.

● Partnerships with over 130 regionally accredited colleges and universities

● Among a select group (8 total) of Alternative Education Providers chosen by the Department

of Education for the EQUIP Program to help colleges build new programs.

Courses have been reviewed by the American Council on Education (ACE), DEAC Approved

Quality Curriculum and the College Board.

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Academic Excellence

• Courses periodically re-reviewed by ACE

• Best-in-class partners

• Adaptive, competency-based learning

• Psychometrically valid and reliable assessments

• Live proctoring for all final examinations

• Robust plagiarism detection and review

• SMEs available for individualized feedback

• Continuous quality improvement using A/B testing


Accounting I Accounting IIManagerial Accounting

Financial Accounting

Cultural Anthropology

Introduction to Biology

Introduction to Biology Lab

Anatomy & Physiology I

Anatomy & Physiology I Lab

Anatomy & Physiology II

Anatomy & Physiology II Lab

MicrobiologyMicrobiology

LabIntroduction to

BusinessBusiness

CommunicationBusiness Ethics Business Law

Organizational Behavior

Principles of Management

General Chemistry

General Chemistry Lab

Western Civilization I

Western Civilization II

Introduction to Criminal Justice

Intro to Communication

Macro-

economics

Micro-

economics

English Composition I

English Composition II

Intro to Environmental

Science

Personal Finance

Introductory Algebra

College AlgebraBusiness Statistics

Precalculus

General Calculus I

General Calculus II

First Aid/CPRMedical

TerminologyIntroduction to

NutritionPersonal Fitness

& WellnessPharm I Pharm II

Introduction to Philosophy

General Physics I

General Physics I Lab

American Government

Introduction to Psychology

Introduction to Religion

Introduction to Sociology

Spanish I Spanish IIStudent Success

US History I US History II

Intro to Statistics

Intro to Programming in

C++

IT Funda-mentals

Survey of World History

Course Catalog

CompTIA A+CompTIA Network+

MTA Networking

Fundamentals

MTADatabase

Admin

MTASoftware

Development

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StraighterLine’s Pathway Program


Results – Use Cases and Student Outcomes


Use case #1: pre-enrollment student success and college readiness

Population served: Applicants with concerns

about academic readiness and student success,

including applicants who place below college-

level math or writing or do not meet the

institution’s admissions requirements

Results: 30% yield of students who enroll in the

program (fully incremental contribution,

improved ROI on acquisition costs already spent)

with higher retention and faster progress

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Use case #2: “at risk” students

Population served: Students facing

finaid caps, affordability concerns,

term break, academic progress issues,

scheduling misses and/or unmet

GenEd requirements

Results: 70.3% completer rate in the

program, who go on to graduate at

twice the rate of the comparison set.

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Use case #3: bridge back for stop-outs

Population served: Students out 1

quarter or more

Results: 85% of re-instate population

(out 1-to-3 quarters) and 59% of re-

admit population (out >3 quarters)

return and graduate at more than

twice the rate of the comparison set.

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Use case #4: low-priced pathways

Population served: Prospects with affordability

concerns

Program: Low-priced degree pathways to appeal to

individuals with affordability concerns to expand

recruiting funnel as well as to provide a new offer

for unconverted leads

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Expanding Pathways to Success After High School, U.S. Department of Education Approves First Innovative EQUIP Experiment“After rigorous analysis and approval by both the institution's

accrediting agency and the Department, Brookhaven is set to

begin collaborating with StraighterLine, an online provider of self-

paced educational courses. Students who have some college but

no credential will be able to complete up to two-thirds of a

DCCCD associate's degree with a concentration in business or

criminal justice by enrolling in StraighterLine courses.”

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What is a StraighterLine course?


StraighterLine Courses:

● Engaging and interactive

● Student-paced

● Frequent assessments that reinforce information learned throughout the course and prepare students to be

successful in the proctored exam

● Personal: all qualitative assignments and assessments are graded by humans , which allows for personal touch,

reference and understanding of work being submitted

● Supportive

○ Academic support (tutoring, SME feedback)

○ Administrative support (student support team)

● Credit recognition: Demonstrated core competency with respect to credit recognition

○ Partner colleges, ACE, EQUIP and other QAEs

● Students typically complete a course in 4-6 weeks

● Designed to require approximately 75 hours of study time


Course Design Framework

On demand academic support should be available

Assessments should be frequent to reinforce learning

Course and student management can be provided by non-academic staff

Students should engage with content rather than sit in lecture hallsContent Delivery

Student Support

Frequent Assessment

Administrative Support

Our course design framework is based on Principles of Course Redesign (developed by the National Center for Academic Transformation (NCAT)), which has been proven to increase student performance and to reduce costs for general education courses


Academic Standards

● Articulation agreements with 130+ Partner Colleges

● CREDIT recommendation by ACE

● Regional Accreditor Review by SACS and NEASC

● Partner with world-class providers for educational content

& support

Course Quality

Academic Integrity

● Mandatory proctoring required for final exams

● Effective plagiarism detection

● Required acknowledgement of student code of conduct

upon enrollment● Required ethical source use lesson at start of writing

course

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How does a StraighterLine course work?


Courses - The Basics

Courses are designed to provide students with an understanding of

essential concepts and to help them achieve the learning objectives for

the course. Courses are equivalent to similar courses offered at a public

or private college or university.

Each StraighterLine course follows a syllabus, which students can view

before purchasing the course.

Topics Organization

● The topics represent the fundamental concepts that students will

need to master in order to successfully complete the course

● Topics include reading assignments, lesson presentations, review

activities, homework assignments, and other methods to help

students learn the essential concepts

● Components of topics vary by course

● Topics support the overall framework Course Home Page

Course Syllabus


StraighterLine Course Frameworks

A two-level taxonomy designed by StraighterLine and instituted on

courses to create, through expert consensus, a universally

recognizable representation of general education courses at the

college level. The two levels are “Content Domains” (top) and

Subtopics (lower).

The Course Framework is used to map and align content presented in

the course with assessments and content providers.

Benefits

● Improves student course experience and focuses their activity

on important content areas

● Tool to balance and align content presented in the course

● Allows for smooth textbook edition and author updates

● Facilitates A/B testing between courseware providers

● Analytics - provides context for exam psychometric

evaluations and identification of challenging content domains

Course Framework Mapping Test Banks


Lesson PresentationsCourses include Lesson Presentations that are a combination of lean back and

lean-in interactive learning objects. Lesson Presentations are a key

component of the learning experience and support the course objectives and

are mapped to the course framework.

Lesson Presentation Components

● Short and focused audio guided lessons covering specific content

area

● Short videos and supplemental reading provide additional clarity and

perspective in engaging formats: slide shows, tabbed reading and

snippets

● Interactive Learning Exercises: drag and drop, matching and

categorization

● Additional Practice: question and answers on a specific content area

with show me tips and in context feedback on incorrect answers

● Currently being redesigned as an embedded experience for continuity

of experience and seamless flow within the course

Current Lesson Presentation

New Lesson Presentation Redesign


e-TextbooksFREE!

● Textbook use is highly correlated with student success and course completion.

● eTextbooks included (no additional fee)

Features● Online and Offline Reading● Mobile App and Desktop Viewing or App● Printable● Bookmark, highlight, and add notes to important passages● Sync enabled - remembers your place and syncs between devices● Accessible - Text-to-speech options● Aligned by content domain and subtopics

McGraw-Hill Textbook in Bookshelf Desktop App


Qualitative Assignments

● Rubric-based● Specific requirements● Graded by hand● First in, first out● Expertly created● Aligned to common standards in Higher Education● Non-graded drafts for feedback before final submission

Exams and Quizzes follow Best Practices in Online Course Delivery

● Multiple Choice Questions● Large test banks – randomly generated questions when possible● No Retakes, only 1 attempt is permitted● Timed, typically 60-90 minutes● Review Score and Answers immediately after exam is complete

First Assignment Retake Policy - Students can retake their first assignment for a higher score

Quantitative Assessments Assignment Page

Exam Item


Qualitative Grading & Academic Services

StraighterLine works hard to ensure that grades are assigned by highly qualified, trained professionals who have plenty of college-level teaching or tutoring experience. All graders have at least a Master’s degree in their field of study, and many have PhDs.

● Written assignments include essays and lab reports

● All written StraighterLine assignments are submitted through

Turnitin match detection to ensure originality of submitted work

● Assignments are graded in order of submission

● Current turnaround time is ~16 hours

Written Assignment Feedback


Proctoring

What is proctoring? Proctored exams are considered best practice

in online course delivery for higher education. It is an exam

supervised by an approved, neutral person (a proctor) who

ensures the identity of the test taker and the integrity of the test

taking environment

Why do we use proctoring?

● Ensure the student enrolled in the course is the student taking the exam

● Ensure students adhere to the Student Code of Conduct (i.e. no cell phones or use of unpermitted exam materials)

Is there a fee? No, as long as it’s scheduled in advance. $8-12 per

session if student would like to schedule within 72 hours. Fees are

paid to ProctorU.

The Basics

● Proctoring must be scheduled in advance

● A Proctor will scan the room to make sure that there are

no unpermitted exam materials in the presence of the

student

● The Proctor does not have access to the students personal

files or information on their computer

● A webcam is required

● Final Exams are timed and vary by course● Non calculated questions get 1-2 minutes, calculated

questions allocated 3-5 minutes to answer


StraighterLine Student Help Center

Student Support

Tutoring: StraighterLine memberships come with 10 FREE hours of

online tutoring. There are many flexible options to connect with a

tutor - Writing Center, Drop-In Tutoring, Scheduled Session, Offline

Questions. Tutoring is provided through online whiteboard.

Help Center: Tutorials, FAQs, and resources to help students find quick

answers to the most common questions,

www.straighterline.com/help-center/

Student Advisors: Dedicated team of Student Advisors are available to

assist students with their needs. Students do not need a membership

to speak with an advisor!

Subject Matter Experts (SMEs): PhD or Master’s level Subject Matter

Experts are on staff to help construct and evaluate StraighterLine

courses, grade student assignments, and work with Student Advisors

to respond to questions regarding course content or materials.

Smarthinking Tutoring Session

http://www.straighterline.com/help-center/


Product Guiding Philosophy

● Product tenets

○ Credit-bearing

○ Low-cost, high quality

○ Student-paced

○ Well-supported

● Completion is our main focus: “when students are successful all boats rise”

● Academic rigor is absolute, but we strive “to make all the rest easier”

● Focus on creating an efficient, intuitive and student-centric experience that reduces unnecessary

effort to “learn StraighterLine” before students start “learning at StraighterLine”

● Commitment to evidence-based testing is the foundation for a culture of continuous improvement


Platform Tools● Frontline, partner, grading & academics internal tools: StraighterLine has developed a proprietary set of tools and

services that support:

○ Student service functions - transcript requests, SIS/grades, credit requirements

○ Partner integration - course equivalency mapping, partner & referral page publishing, co-branded and custom

experiences

○ Direct agnostic courseware integration - Moodle, Acrobatiq

Evidence-based product management● Continuous course improvement and testing: a discipline of processing user feedback, studying engagement data and

testing new content providers to improve the student experience through iterative course development and A/B

testing.

● Success metric-driven development: constant monitoring of course performance as measured by completer rate to

select and use best-performing course content, features and services as well as identify opportunities for further

improvement.


Login Page Linked from Welcome Email


Transcripts

Students send transcripts from their MyLine dashboard.

The student clicks TRANSFER CREDITS, enters your address, and clicks submit

Transcripts are processed by StraighterLine within 24 – 48 business hours, free of charge.

If students experience any problems with this process, they can give our support team a call or submit a support ticket via the HELP CENTER in MyLine.


Transcript Sample


THANK YOU

| Proprietary and Confidential · Proctored exams are considered best practice in online course...

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