Vista Higher Learning

Difficult to follow, impossible to retain a massive amount of information thrown at you, confusing instructions, just an overall awful online learning experience.

This site is the hardest online textbook and homework to use that I have EVER encountered! I have taken many online courses, and this one had ZERO help to show you how they want the typed in answers, and you continually get them wrong. Finally you get get upset and turn in the HW with a crummy grade out of frustration! AND as others have said the MOST overpriced online code and book that I have ever had in an online course! Poorly done VIsta, Poorly done!

The experience is awful and the instructions are rarely clear enough. They contradict themselves which makes learning other languages difficult. Consistency would matter, but there is none.

This is my first college class and this is a terrible introduction. Even my NATIVE SPANISH SPEAKING mother can't figure this site out. I was completely confused on all my assignments and make-shift "lectures" my professor taught. I have a terrible grade in this class because of this hell site. Honestly just drop the class if you learn they are using this program

Seriously, as a student, there is no reason a language learning site should be this PUNISHING if you get a single letter wrong. Rather than actually teaching you what you did wrong on a test or quiz, the site just hopes you suck it up and moves onto the next lesson, which may not even teach what you actually need for the next test! Holy S@#$, this site is the definition of poor design, and yet schools continue to use it? This is truly the CollegeBoard of language learning sites, it's that bad. I made an account for sitejabber, JUST to talk about how I much I hate VHL Central.

This is the worst online learning tool I have ever used. I am disappointed that Penn State uses such a scam of a text book for leaning. First of all, I spent over $160 on the book. That is already a red flag because most of my other online learning tools were only $30 or so. The actual book itself is useless. It does not explain any of the content well. You will definitely need someone who knows the language you are learning if you want to pass any class that uses anything from VHL Central. Then the activities are even worse. With the book not explaining things thoroughly, the activities become near impossible to do. Plus, adding extra spaces or missing a period will cause you to lose points on assignments. Anything where you have to type an answer can have more than one solution, however the book only accepts one answer. Even native speakers who have helped me with my assignments have had problems with the book. THEY SPEAK THE LANGUAGE. Avoid any class that uses books from this place.

Learning a foreign language may be challenging, but in the end, it's all worth it. However, you're not going to be having any fun at ALL using VHL Central. The biggest problem is that it basically thinks that you already know Spanish or whatever language you're taking, even though it's a completely new thing for you! When you get something wrong, they'll what you did wrong, but they don't help you, which is ESSENTIAL for learning a language. If you want to learn a language, PLEASE don't use VHL Central, as it doesn't help, and is a complete waste of your time.

It always freezes. I have to constantly reload the page. Sometimes my web page will just shut down entirely and it'll say it's not responding. LIKE I'm just trying to do my work and it's so frustrating that I have to spend 20 minutes to get the page to work. LIKE IF IT'S GONNA BE EXPENSIVE CAN IT JUST WORK PROPERlY PLS. I have work due at 11:59 and I cant even get the thing to work. And I know its not my computer because it's new...

I am taking french and this program makes me want to bang my head against a wall every single day. The exercises are so stupid, repetitive, and useless. The grammar is not very well explained and you have to be super specific when answering long form questions or you will get it wrong and every single day I feel like I'm wasting my time and not learning anything. I genuinely used to love learning french but this has made me hate learning it. The listening exercises are so difficult to understand because they talk so fast. This course is so frustrating and dumb, and you get points off for grammar that has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE GRAMMAR YOU ARE LEARNING. If you are a student signing up for an online language class, RUN FAR AWAY IF THE PROGRAM IS VHL. I wish I could give zero stars because thats how much i hate it.

As a NATIVE BORN Spanish speaker, I was curious to take the Spanish class, the website seemed ok but as I progressed through the many unnecessary wording and the confusing manner they explain an activity I realize that this website was going to be a pain. I have learned Spanish with a Spanish professor and this website's grammar seems made by a Spanish middle schooler. Anyways walk away if you see this website on your Spanish professor textbook requirements.

I have contacted VHL more than 10 times for simple mistakes, they do not do anything. Their program has a lot of mistakes, they do not even know how to properly write or teach the language. I contacted the help desk and they came with the same excuse" we fixed it" when in reality they did not. For any university using this program you will have students complaining, let me save you money and annoyment. DO NOT PURCHASE THIS PROGRAM!

I was attempting to buy an access code ($175) online and would not take my card no matter what I did. I went to VHL's troubleshooting page and followed each step as explained. Nothing worked. I finally decided to call a few days later and they told me the exact same thing as was on the website. I asked if I could pay over the phone but the operator said they couldn't do that and that I had to create a PayPal as a last resort. The operator seemed not to want to help further or really cared that I could not PAY for their services. I was forced to make a PayPal, something I wanted to avoid doing because of security issues. In my opinion, this company is not here to serve customers, they are here to take corner students and take advantage of them. If you are an instructor at an institution, please ask your bookstore or provider to find an alternative company to partner with. This company does not have your student's best interests at heart and will not help them. If you are a student, I am sorry if you have to deal with this company. Contact your bookstore or book provider and talk with them about trying to switch their service provider for these courses. I will be reaching out to mine.

Among the hundreds of activities, there are probably just a couple that are good. A waste of money and time.

As everyone else has illustrated, the product sucks. But in addition to it being a horrific way to learn a language, I purchased the book with Vtext code through Amazon. The fact that it was packaged with a code was printed on the first page of the textbook, as well as packaged with a card that said "find the Vtext code for your book in the card attached", yet... no code. I called VHL and told them there was no code included, and they just blamed Amazon and told me to spend another $185.00 on the code. I found it highly unlikely Amazon was packaging code cards into their books for them, and asked them to verify that Amazon is filling their orders through VHL, which the "customer service" (lol) agent confirmed. But she again insisted that because the purchase was through Amazon and not VHL, they would do nothing to help me, and I needed to buy another code. Probably going to fail the semester and go on academic probation over this shameless scam. What a testament to the state of our education system and economy, that a company like this can continue making money hand over fist scamming college students who are already going into debt, to sell an absolutely lazy "language system". Then to turn around and double dip on customers, simply because they have no recourse but to give you more money... absolute vultures. I hope everyone affiliated with this company loses everything, which they won't, because companies like this are allowed to victimize all comers in the name of "higher education".

This service almost seems designed to discourage learning. It is painful to try and learn with it. It made me feel stupid and I've seen so many people give up on learning after having to use this service. Its so bad on so many levels I don't even know where to begin. So just a few highlights: Questions in spanish with words and forms that aren't taught until later. Examples that don't explain what exercises are about. "Lessons" that don't explain what exercises are about. Difficult, important, concepts that are explained by less than a page and with a pace and variety of topics that don't complement each other or actually learning anything. Estimated times for lessons and tests that are insanely short and actual times are not credited. The 300 dollar price tag for RENTING AN ELECTRONIC COPY of the book. No answers to the exercises. Unintuitive, often nonsensical, answers to exercises.
This service enables, forces, teachers to just guess at a students skill level because there are no insights through this service. It just measures how much time you can throw at it. Just, just, a constant ever present feeling like this service is fighting you while you try to use it.
After my second semester with this I promised myself I would never take another course that uses it, but there aren't any at my school? VHL is the devil. It is a scam that exploits institutions.