Disappointed and disgusted

<p>If you are looking to get frustrated, condescended to and risk wasting massive amounts of time and money, Getsmarter is the way to go. On the other hand, if you're looking for a high quality, easy to access and well organised learning experience, go elsewhere.</p> <p>Last year, I enrolled for a distance learning course in Compliance Management. (I am situated in Gauteng, while Getsmarter is based in Cape Town). The brochure promised that the course was tailored specifically to meet the needs of working professionals hoping to advance their career.</p> <p>Since the cost of the course was very high, i.e. 3 times the amount charged by an accredited local training centre for bi-weekly contact sessions, I was nervous about the expense since I was paying out of pocket. The promise of around-the-clock support, online convenience and being able to set my own schedule was tempting, however. I had a lengthy discussion with a sales representative (they refer to themselves as “advisors” but in hindsight, it is all about the “sale”) about my needs and expectations and was repeatedly assured that this was the course for me. To be clear, I am not a compliance specialist. Compliance is a small, albeit important part of my work, and my goal for enrolling in the course was to improve my basic competence.</p> <p>The problems started as soon as I tried to log in. I had paid the course fee in full, but was unable to log onto the site. After several days, I was sent a link via email that I had to use every single time I tried to log in. Simply searching GetSmarter via Google and logging on through the search engine was not an option, which was highly inconvenient when I had to travel for work. I was unable to submit the first assignment, because the submission interface refused to upload the document. I have studied long-distance through UNISA and hold a Masters degree. I am used to research and study, but I found the materials to be incredibly disorganised and very difficult to utilise. In my experience, specialist long distance learning institutions devote a lot of time to ensuring that their materials are logical and user friendly, which is why I was prepared to pay Getsmarter’s exorbitant fees. Far from being “tailored to working professionals” the materials consisted of photocopied textbooks and online downloads with virtually no guidance. Completing assignments meant perusing several hundred pages a week of badly photocopied text and unexplained jargon.</p> <p>The mandatory, week-long contact session in Cape Town (i.e. a further expense) was useful, but in no way enough make up for the chaos of the rest of the course. The course leader was a young man in his mid-twenties who admitted to having no experience outside of academia. He seemed to delight in intimidating the class (consisting of working professionals) with the scope and depth of work he expected to see for the “Final Assignment.” He made mention of one student who had submitted 100 page thesis, which is equivalent to a doctoral dissertation for a 6 week certificate course, and mentioned that even this student had not received a perfect score because, in his own words “I am petty.”</p> <p>I ended up requesting an extension on the final assignment because of work demands and was granted one week. Even with the extension, it was incredibly difficult to keep up with the demands of the course as well as my job and I ended up submitting with 2 of the approximately 10 questions uncompleted. A month later, I received a very condescending note that, as I had not completed those 2 questions, the lecturer was unable to assess my competence (despite completing the other 8 and all but one of the assignments) and that I had therefore failed the course.</p> <p> </p> <p>With any other institution, I would have followed this up and complained, but it is patently clear that Getsmerter's investment in their students' experience ends once the EFT clears into their account. The fees they charge are based on UCT's clout, not service delivery.</p>