Outlier

What it is

Outlier offers online college courses to high school students through dual enrollment. Its home page headline is "Dual enrollment courses for high school students nationwide," and the course pages say that "Outlier by Savvas courses are offered through US highschools" and are "available through dual enrollment at partner high schools." A student takes a full introductory college course online while still at school, and on passing earns college credit: each course carries 3 credits from the University of Pittsburgh, which the home page calls "a top 50 global university." The site brands the product "Outlier by Savvas," and the footer carries a Savvas Learning Company LLC copyright. The pitch rests on production quality. The home page promises a "futuristic learning experience" of "cinematic lectures, interactive textbooks, code-along exercises, and more," taught by "charismatic, approachable instructors we hand-picked from top universities across the country."

The courses

The course menu lists Intro to Financial Accounting ("Find the story in numbers."), Intro to Psychology ("The science of the mind."), Professional Communication ("Comms skills for the real world."), Intro to Business ("The art of creating value."), Computer Science I ("Code the future.") and Calculus I ("The mathematics of change."), with a link to the full catalog. Intro to Statistics has its own course page, and an Intro to Astronomy course appears with its instructor on the home page. These are introductory college subjects, and the point is credit that counts toward a degree later.

The instructors shown on the home page come from Columbia University (Intro to Psychology), Illinois Institute of Technology, DePaul University, Princeton University, Davidson College (Calculus I), NASA (Intro to Astronomy) and UMass Lowell, most of them with a Ph.D.

Inside a course: Intro to Statistics

The statistics page shows how a course is put together. It describes the course as "a critical thinking class designed to help you see order in chaos," in which "you'll gain data analysis tools that help you better understand the world, and make better decisions." Instead of one teacher, it has four instructors who each take a block of the syllabus:

• Ashley Carroll, M.S., an adjunct professor of mathematics at the College of Charleston, covers statistical thinking, descriptive statistics and probability.
• Olanrewaju Michael Akande, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Statistical Science at Duke University, covers discrete and continuous random variables and the central limit theorem.
• Gregory Matthews, Ph.D., a tenured professor of mathematics and statistics at Loyola University Chicago, covers confidence intervals and hypothesis testing with one sample and with two means.
• AnnMaria De Mars, Ph.D., president and founder of The Julia Group and 7 Generation Games, covers categorical data analysis with the chi-square distribution, and linear regression, correlation, the F-distribution and one way ANOVA. Her bio says she has spent the past 30 years helping students learn mathematics and statistics in new ways and was named one of Forbes' "40 Women to Watch Over 40" in 2013.

Lessons are "cinematic video lessons," backed by "gorgeous interactive textbooks based on evidence-based active learning principles." The course also uses real-world hooks to teach the material: the connection between doctorate degrees and cheese consumption, the effects of aging and gender on actors' Hollywood careers, which places in America are best (or worst) for cat and dog owners to live, the real chances of winning big in Las Vegas, and how to spot fake news and bad data. A full syllabus is available by e-mail through a request form on the page, and each course has a trailer.

The page sets the course beside a traditional one in a comparison table. A traditional course, it says, usually carries 3-4 credits from your school, is taught in person or on Zoom by one instructor per class, holds lectures at a specific time and place, and sets exams for a specific hour. The Outlier course earns 3 transferable credits from the University of Pittsburgh, is "interactive and 100% online (Zoom-free)," has four instructors, offers lectures "on-demand, anywhere," and gives a "flexible window" for exams.

How it works for a student

The home page sets out four steps. Students explore the courses their school offers through trailers and syllabi; choose one "with input from your teachers, guidance counselor, and parents"; complete the course work through "interactive lessons, cinematic lectures, and guided notes"; and then "pass the course and earn 3 college credits transferable to the college or university of your choice." The site has a Credit Transfer Process page under its Preparing for College section, and it closes the home page with "Speak to your guidance counselor about signing up for an outlier course today," which is the entry route: through the school, not by buying a course online.

The FAQ is frank about the workload. "Outlier courses are real college courses," it says, so students should be ready for the academic rigor of college-level work. It recommends taking only 1 Outlier course at a time and weighing other responsibilities before enrolling, and puts the time commitment at "about 45 minutes a day (5 hours per week)," counting time at school and at home. On results, the FAQ states that "students pass our classes at the same rates as in-person classes" and that "many outperform the AP national average."

Costs and technology

To the question of whether students must buy textbooks or pay a fee, the FAQ answers "Nope!" and says courses "include everything you need to be successful. No expensive textbooks. No exam fees. No transportation costs." The site gives no price for a course; access runs through partner high schools. Coursework needs Wi-Fi and a laptop or desktop computer; lectures can also be streamed in Outlier's iPhone app, but the rest of the course work needs a computer, and a full list of technical requirements is in the Help Center.

Support

The course page promises a dedicated Student Success team that will assist students, and push them, so that they pass with flying colors, and says "free tutoring is available for this course when you need it." General questions go to hello@outlier.org. The product page frames all of this as "the support + structure to thrive in your first college experience."

What students and the press say

The home page quotes three students. Jacqueline W. writes that she has taken a lot of online courses and Outlier "blows them all away," and Taija P. says "I never thought I'd like an online class this much." Elliot P. says of the staff that "I felt the same level of rapport with them as though I was attending physical classes." Alumni on the statistics page praise the course as affordable and easy to navigate and the support staff as helpful. The page also quotes TechCrunch calling Outlier "a way to get college credit when life circumstances make it difficult for students" and Gizmodo on "accessible college classes at a fraction of the cost," and shows an "Innovation by Design Winner 2020" badge.

Who it suits and who it does not

Outlier suits a motivated high school student whose school offers it and who wants to start a degree early: a junior who wants Calculus I or Intro to Psychology on a college transcript, or a student who prefers on-demand lectures to a fixed class time. It also gives schools and guidance counselors a way to offer college-level courses, with the lectures, instructors, tutoring and Student Success support provided by Outlier.

It is not a course store for anyone at all. Access runs through partner high schools, so a student whose school does not offer Outlier has to start that conversation with the school. The catalog is a short list of introductory subjects, and the FAQ's own advice (one course at a time, about five hours a week) makes clear that this is real college work rather than enrichment, so it fits a student ready for that load.