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Why is my college money being wasted

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by naughtymonkey

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I have recently returned to school to complete my Bachelors degree. I don't mind taking classes with subjects I am proficient in since they are easy classes, but where do they draw the line.

I am taking now an introduction class to the internet and email. Why is there not an exemption for this class. I have an Associates degree in Computer Science.

The other class that bugs me is our basic web design class. I expected HTML fundamentals, CSS introduction, etc...

They are teaching Frontpage. Maybe they will focus on the other stuff, as in, "After you create the web page using Microsoft Frontpage, take out all the crap that means nothing and interferes with functionality."

Oh well, at least it is online and I don't have to listen to a 3 hour lecture on crap.

Just had to b**ch for a minute. Carry on with your lives. :)

edit for lost word

34 replies

by jamesrl

Many schools will give you credit/exemptions from courses that you have equivalences to, or work experience in.

Don't know about schools convenient to you, but you have to shop around for this kind of thing.

James

by naughtymonkey

I was however able to exempt Part 1 and 2 of the Cisco courses and the MCSA classes. Good thing I recently passed the CCNA and MCSA I guess.

Even with that, they still need to know I can use the internet and email.

edit darn sppelinf

by charliespencer

NM, can I assume you're at G-S Tech? I have a friend who's at Midlands and is running into the same thing. He runs the web site for the school district he graduated from, but Tech is making him take basic web design. He asked about testing out of the class but they have to develop an exemption test; no one has asked before. His Cisco class spent a week on putting a male RJ-45 connector on CAT-5 cable.

I got lucky under similar circumstances. The instructor was a guy I already knew. He gave me the course requirements the first night. The entire grade was based on a single project you developed over the course of the class using various Office applications. He waived the attendance requirement and I knocked it out over a three-day weekend for an 'A'.

by naughtymonkey

You would think if a school is big on continuing education, they would have means of evaluating proficiency in low level classes to not waste everyones time. Not only do I have to take such a low level course, there are students who actually need to take the course that can't.

Maybe I can work something out with this teacher. I have known the department head for 10 years, so maybe he can help.

by ic-it

Will they assess your official transcript from the institution that you received the Associates from?

by boxfiddler

and asked to test out? Or for a waiver? This is often done on my campus.

I just allowed a student to test out of one of my classes. I simply gave her the final exam and scored her. Other instructors on my campus also sometimes allow a student to test out. That might be worth asking about.

edit to add this last bit

by naughtymonkey

Since I know the department head, maybe he can nudge the teacher in the direction of giving me a passing grade for a single project like Palmetto suggested.

by boxfiddler

'the formal way'. My students simply come to me and make the request. If they convince me, they take the Final without all the prep that students who do the classwork get and get the grade for the class that they receive on the Final.

edit the usual
edit again to add: I do have to clear this with my department chair.

by rh_77

When I went back to school to update my degree, it was helpful to get to know the person who ran the program I was in. While I was in his class I made sure that all paper work was processed while he still knew who I was. I was able to get 4 classes wiped by showing that I already had my A+. I was also able to substitute a couple classes as well from the previous degree I had received from the college. It is worth finding out if the college will allow real world experience to count for something.

by jdclyde

They make more money by having you stuck in more classes, not to mention them getting their cut on book sales.

I hope this school is at least highly accredited, so the degree will mean a lot. I have found that all degrees are not created equally, and some mean almost nothing at all.

Good luck.

I had to deal with a college that had just merged, so they had to change the curriculums. I had a class I was in the friggen MIDDLE of fall out of my degree.

by jdclyde

I did have a few times that they tried "we are sorry, but there isn't anything we can do about it".

I told them I understood that they couldn't do anything about it, and would appreciate if they could point me further up the food chain to someone that can, be it the Dean, the board, a "letter to the editor", or what. It is amazing what they really CAN do if properly motivated.

Stay calm, stay reasonable, stay logical, and hold their feet to the fire.

by jamesrl

About 20 years ago, I was an independant consultant, but sharing space and informally allied with two others.

One of them had a big job to install 40 new computers, a server, network printers, network gear and cabling.

I bought a roll of Cat 5, a box of connectors and a crimper/stripper. One of the guys showed me once how to use it. We set up a work area where I had the roll of cable and a test setup (laptops, hub). I would go to the computer, rough measure the distance to the wall connector and then go back and make a cable. Nobody bought fixed length cables in those days.

James

by jdclyde

It goes a lot quicker for a single person already working in the field to pick up new things than a class full of total noobs that are terrified of everything around them and are going through overload.

When I went through the Cisco Academy it was the same way. Just getting the cables stripped and matched up is a chore, and then they always get a pair that didn't match up correctly or didn't cut it straight so some didn't get pushed in far enough.

The other thing about those classes, at the first level you get a lot of people that have no business being in that class, but had heard from a councilor that "you can make a lot of money" in that field.....

by nicknielsen

When I was teaching, they sent me through the Cisco Instructor Academy. I already had my A+ and was teaching Digital Electronics, so other than learning the IOS and the finer points of networking, it was all pretty much old hat for me, but we had three or four in the class (one district sent a Marketing teacher! :0 ) that had one h3ll of a time learning to count to 1 so they could work subnets. I always wondered how they did when they went back to their respective career centers and tried to teach it to high schoolers.

The hardest thing for me through the Cisco Academy 1 and 2 classes was throttling back to the speed of the rest of the class. I did a lot of "student teacher" work and learned from it.

by jtaylor3678

More likely one class session. I did the same thing in one of my first classes when I was getting my Asscoiate's.

by jmgarvin

It might be too late if you are on the semester system (usually a 3 week window). If you are on the quarter system if it just started you should have about 2 weeks to do this (if they have the option available).

by naughtymonkey

who could not get any part of Cisco equipment. The class being centered around hands on tests, the teacher always paired him up with good students.

The last part on the final exam we had to set up two routers across a WAN, with two switches, ACLs, configured from scratch. Then the teacher would sabotage the setup and you had to troubleshoot it. They tried to stick that guy with me. I told them no, I was not going to do all the work so someone who didn't have a clue could pass.

It was supposed to be a 2 member team project. I did it by myself, was done first, and took about 2 minutes. Aced the courses and easily passed my CCNA. Don't know what ever happened to that guy though.

by naughtymonkey

at this particular school is through a particular department that handles all requests. They do exemptions for classes and will test as well.

The problem is the way I am going through the program. I received my Associates from this particular tech school. The bachelors however is through Franklin University who has an agreement with the school. I take my third year classes there for half the cost and do my final year online with Franklin.

Franklin is requiring the course to be taken. I will have to receive the grade for the class to show completion but they are having an issue with letting me take a test for a final grade. I can exempt it, but that doesn't help me.

I looked through the chapters last night and my 12 year old was laughing his a$$ off at the level of material.

How to use email
How to use the Internet
What is a website
What is an email client

Maybe I can work it out with the teacher to satisfy everyone.

by naughtymonkey

it is about that speed. It will good for my father-in-law who wants to learn about the internet and email.

by rfink

When I was in college I was majoring in Accounting and MIS and had to take classes in Geology, social sciences and other crap that had nothing to do with my majors.

I will admit that after a term of geology I no longer took all rocks for granite.

by ed woychowsky

Let you get out of the class if you can pass the final exam. Usually there's just a small fee associated with this.

by boxfiddler

Cripes but I hate some of those Course Technology books! We use them for Continuing Ed because they publish a series cheap enough that we don't have to charge an arm and a leg to people wanting that kind of quickie class. The series I'm thinking of is particularly bad. Let's see, that would be the NETg e-Learning program series. OOOgly.

On the other hand we use a series of their books for credit classes that are alright and just about perfect for the total newbie.

by nicknielsen

I used their A+ package in the classroom and it was fabulous: well-written, well-designed, but expensive. However, a lot of their "intro" and "beginning" texts seem to be aimed at children or morons. I get the feeling that somebody there is writing those with the attitude that if you don't already know this, you can't be older than eight.

by naughtymonkey

1-4188-6071-9

New Perspectives The Internet 6th Edition

On their website I believe they listed it as Discovering the Internet

by boxfiddler

That is the book we used for our 1 credit hour Internet Fundamentals class until this semester. I work at a Community College - read transition from High School to University. I have moved the course over to Paradigm Publishings' offering at the same level. Both these books are great for total newbies who have no clue that there is a 'deep web' out there, but for University level education they are way too introductory. Shoot, these books would be quite appropriate at the High School level.
Utterly ridiculous that the Instructor won't let you 'test out'.

by nicknielsen

in a previous edition. SC is using it under the heading "Business and Marketing Internet Applications" along with books titled "Internet: Systems and Applications, Student Edition", "Mozilla Firefox: Introductory Concepts and Techniques", and "The Internet".

If you need information about approved high school textbooks in SC, you can download this 670k file for the complete listing: http://www.mysctextbooks.com/DOCS/ComprehensiveMaster07-08WebReport.pdf. (They used to have an interactive method of finding textbooks, but it appears to be broken. Ain't progress great?)

by naughtymonkey

Most of the people in the class seem to be office systems tech (receptionist) and most could probably use the info. It is very low level though and my 12 year old laughed at it. And for someone who works in the field it is utterly ridiculous.

I have emailed the teacher to test out which the department head said it would have to be worked out with her. She hasn't responded in the 8 days since the first email so she is either an incompetent teacher or is just ignoring me because she is an a$$.

by boxfiddler

and then there is the 'other' answer to that question...
Education at the elementary and secondary levels has been so 'dumbed down' that colleges - and community colleges in particular - are becoming glorified high schools.

My pet peeve.

by nicknielsen

And we need to get more kids into college, so let's get a lottery going!

South Carolina has the "Education Lottery" but K-12 only gets 26% of the proceeds and the vast majority of that goes to K-8 programs. High schools have never gotten any direct money. Bloody flippin' stupid, if you ask me!

Links:

http://www.sceducationlottery.com/educationwins/educationwins.aspx

http://www.budget.sc.gov/webfiles/oo/historical/Lottery_Appropriations_082807.pdf (2-page pdf)

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