Vista Higher Learning

VHL has horrible connection problems and makes every homework assignment into a test, essentially testing students every day on subjects they learned about for at most an hour.

Too complicated to maneuver. I have learned nothing. I just cheat on my assignments every single one. I would rather scrape my knees off glass then do this everyday.

When purchasing a book or code through the site, be extremely careful. The site did not give me the option to look up the correct book for my class until after I purchased a very expensive online code. I ended up paying $75 extra for the book because of a horrible designed website with little to no direction. After talking to a very nice woman in customer service, I STILL was not able to get my money back to buy the correct book. I do not recommend using this site for buying books or codes, you're safer using an outside site.

It is a bad software/company which did not keep the student dashboard available either for two more days in order to see completed assignments or grades. Why to delete all as soon the course ended? We students sometimes has problems with missing grades or missing assignments and when a professor ask for proof we do not have how to proof that our assignments were completed due to the fact that VHL CENTRAL did not keep a copy or did not send a copy to the students! NOW I have to pay again and retake the same course in my college to write off the F grade I had.

I'm a student and my teacher uses it for homework and tests, it can be harsh but it helps me learn. I find it annoying though that it takes off so much credit when it's even a day late though

I'm not a slouch and I may end up failing this class destroying my present 4.0. Horrible! The first lesson was okay but the second lesson has you spending hours upon hours trying to understand videos with words you haven't mastered yet and some you haven't even learned yet so you can write answers to questions in Spanish you don't know yet. I'm kind sad about it because I really wanted to learn Spanish. I've never felt so discouraged by a class in my life. Somehow you're expected to understand the dialect by week three and by some miracle translate a language you haven't learned. No partial points for missed accent marks or slight mispelling. That's the problem with computers. No teacher and its totally teaching yourself. Hating this class and no free time left for other classes. Avoid at all costs!

Vista Higher Learning has unfortunately taken over many colleges and universities. More and more lazy professors are relying on this useless software that will cost students close to $200 per course. They are likely getting kickbacks from VHL. If you want to truly learn a language, I would suggest that you avoid Vista Higher Learning. The text is mediocre, the software doesn't work, and is very difficult to use. They will not refund you under any circumstances. Look them up on BBB, and other review sites and see for yourself.

I contacted VHL before I chose the length of my subscription. I asked if my college continued using Portales 2.0 IN SECTION 2, SP 102. The sales person said my college does not use VHL the next semester. I bought a 6 month subscription. When I signed up for 102 the teacher said VHL was the text. When I contacted VHL and asked to pay the difference between a 6 month subscription and a 2 year subscription HL reps acknowledged I was provided incorrect information. Still they refused to let me pay the difference and charged the full price. In so doing, I was required to pay $160 extra. I'm a college s tudent!
As for the paper text, it doesn't include the questions/conversations required to complete the assignments. Worthless!
Portales 2.0 is not user friendly. The speakers go way too fast and there is no way to slow the speed in the assignments. Duolingo includes this option.
In an unscientific survey, 100% of my classmates said they HATE VHL Portales 2.0. Some professors at my school are "advisors" to VHL. Coincidence? Inside job? It doesn't pass the smell test.

Absolutely the WORST program I've ever used for education. I've never seen a program actually gaslight its users, it's insane. You pretty much have to already know basic spanish to understand any of the lessons. The textbook is written with HORRIBLE examples that are useless at best for the questions they ask you. I've actually cried my eyes out trying to learn using this god forsaken program. I wanted to learn spanish and this program made me HATE IT. Context for questions is non-existent, it's like it expects you to magically know what context the questions are using. Multiple times it will mark answers as wrong, come to find out what I originally put was right after using all 5 attempts, so that's a SERIOUS design flaw there. There are so many things wrong with this program it would be impossible to list them all.

So excited to pay my dues to take this class then to be presented with a paywall that prevents you from taking the class without buying the book. Would really love to see this practice get outlawed from praying on broke college students by putting them between a rock (dropping the class) and a hard place (biting the bullet and giving these people 200 bucks) Thanks :)

When purchasing a textbook through VHL, not only must you pay extra for the physical textbook to arrive bound (instead of loose-leaf!), but your access to the electronic textbook only lasts for 24 months. Despite the cost exceeding $250.00, you can only extend access once those 24 months are over, for the low price of another $200.00.

The fact that they charge for the book arriving assembled, and that you are only leasing access to the E-textbook is egregious. Horrible company to be forced to deal with

This company is a rip off. They gave me 14 day of free access to complete any assignments. However, once the 14 day access has expired my professor could not see my grades. Therefore I was forced to purchase the access code to receive credit. I just purchased the online materials need to access the book and still can't access it so I'm not sure if my professor can see my grades. I am very pissed because I do not have any money to waste. I hate I had to go through this program, so glad I don't have to take anymore Spanish classes.

I was very disappointed in this product. My language teacher had said he liked this program. As a distance learner the text with the online is not very supportive for learning. I had used another program with another language and I found that very easy to learn from. Vista has very little audio that coincides directly with the lessons. You have to go to audio lab which does not coincide with the text. There are no explanations in the book, just "homework" without much direction. Yes we are supposed to read the text which I do, but I have no idea if I am saying the words correctly.

Most distance learning programs have issues here and there, and can be better... That being said, VHL Central has no redeeming qualities in any fathomable reality what so ever. It is poorly designed, also the assignments and instructions are very murky at best, at worst you have no way of figuring out what you are supposed to do. After seeing all the horrible reviews that stretch back a few years I am completely puzzled how any educational institution is using this...

This program requires you to be able to read Spanish or you spend a lot of time trying to figure out what the instructions are trying to get you to do. There are so many activities, you won't have time to go to a helpful site and actually learn the language you're trying to learn. I am forced to use this for Spanish and my 4.0 is threatened because I don't learn this way. You have to use google translate to figure out some of the instructions. Every lesson eats away at the learner's confidence. What a joke.

I had to buy Portales 1 and 2 for my college Spanish classes. Both access codes were priced north of $200. Other Spanish learning applications are much cheaper; their price gouging works because VHL likely forces professors to pay little to nothing, allowing all of the financial burden to be shifted to the students who obviously have no choice. I also do not know of any other language-learning platforms that share their features compete against them. Additionally, the lessons and activities are sometimes hard to understand and don't actually improve Spanish fluency--only immersion and interactive learning can do that.

The rage. All teh rage. There are no directions, no guidance, no "this is how you navigate this flaming dumpster fire of completely random and pointless assignments" map. The text is the opposite of helpful as it lacks introduction, structure, and is basically a paper version of the online course. VHL makes Pearson look like God's gift to students. Aside. The professor is excellent and the Blackboard shell is excellent. I would do better squinting at a textbook and having a conversation in person. Heck, Duo has provided a greater grasp of the language. Seriously, VHL is the worst. I'm less than two weeks into the course and I've ragequit more times than I haven't.