TESC has eliminated Portfolio Assesment :( Need Help.

I am a senior at TESC, Thomas Edison State College and a major reason for me going there was their Portfolio Assesment. The TESC rep told me that they no longer have PA, but now have PLA, Prior Learning Assesment,. This would be fine, except they never offer the courses you need to take, essentially rendering the PA avenue as worthless. I was notified I would be notified, if they schedule a course similar to the one I have already taken.

I have taken 9 college level Real Estate courses from a DETC business school to qualify for the CA real estate Brokers exam. Originally TESC they would probably accept them for credit, then they said they wouldn't after I enrolled. I figured worse case, I could PA them with not too much trouble. This sets me back at least 5 hard to find courses for my major.

Does anyone have any ideas around this? I contacted my old JC and they said I missed the deadline for enrolling in their PA class, so I'll have to wait til August. I was hoping to be done by February 04.

 

Does TESC accept portfolio assessment from other schools? I belive COSC still does portfolio assessment.

 

Good tip

Thanks Randy,
I'll call them tomorrow. If I had to do it over again I would go to COSC or Excelsior. The www.BAin4weeks.com hit the nail on the head, he said that TESC always acted like they were inconvienced, or bothered when you need help, and COSC was like you were the prodigal son coming home.

 

I thought...

that TESC offerred their PLA classes every month or two - and that sometimes (although no guarantee was offerred) one could complete it sooner?

wrong?

--Orson

 

Yes and No

Unfortunately, they only offer a class when they have a professor for it. The chances of them offering RE Finance, Brokerage, Escrow, etc. are about zero. I had to wait 6 months just to get RE principles which is the first class every Realtor takes. Most of their PLA are core courses, and I need major specialty which is where PA came in. I will try and find someone at TESC who might be of some assistance. So far, I usually get little or any help from them.

 

I don't know much about COSC, but from my understaning, they offer students the ability to create their own concentrations. Maybe it might be reasonable to transfer there, get the portfolio assessment, and create your own concentration that would include all those real esate classes. Of course...there is the sting of the $1100 enrollment fee at Cosc if you wanted to transfer over. :/

 

Transfer

I have to say that you might want to look into a move to COSC. Call Kerry Ann Kowar and tell her that her lost twin sent you!
They have a well developed PA deal. The video and book are worth the $15 bucks.

Dan Burrello

 

Another thought that *might* be worthy of consideration:

Last I checked, Ohio University - Athens had a huge selection of DL courses in just about every genre imaginable, and had a policy where you could simply take the exam offered to class students, and, by passing, be granted credit for the class in question.

It's not going to be as simple as PLA or PA, but it might be a viable alternative.

Frankly, though, I would be inclined to agree that voting with one's feet -- moving to COSC -- is the best choice. I know that just about every other school on the planet allows students to earn credits and meet graduation requirements based on the rules that were in place when the student *enrolled*, not when the school arbitrarily changed them.

I don't think I've ever heard anyone say anything bad about COSC. They have the reputation of being small and personalized in the way they work with students, seem to have enormous flexibility in helping students. The only possible downside is that COSC, if memory serves, limits credit by portfolio to 60 credits, where TESC (at least at the time) didn't limit portfolio credits at all.

BTW, what exactly is the difference between portfolio assessment and prior learning assessment?

 

Chip...

A worthy suggestion, but I have had no luck securing such help from Ohio U trying three times.

I don't know who is helped by their program - IS ANYONE?

Perhaps students already in residence, needing just one or two or three finishing courses? - or athletes? - or maybe those enrolled in their BGS - just not me.

Mind you, I have found their Ind Study people as fine as anywhere. I'm just sceptical that these advertised services amount to much. And so, in the case of our student-friend Ultimale, will be let down (unless his courses are already offerred DL).

--Orson

 

I turned in some of the last portfolios at TESC (fedexed!) so I could finish my degree before the change (which I did).

However, my understanding is that you can "propose" a custom PLA and then you essentially have an advisor just as you did before. You just have to propose it early enough for them to approve it and then register for it like a normal course. Now, I don't know how hard it is to get a custom approval.

Read http://www.tesc.edu/prospective/undergraduate/credit/regpla.php

Look at the 2nd bullet under step 2.

 

The problem...

isn't the new format. The problem is the regidity of the timelines imposed!

--Orson

 

Correct

The problem isn't the change to PLA, it's that if they don't have a professor to sponsor the class, they won't offer it. This way TESC can drag along the graduation process indefinitely. Under the old PA process, i could PA my 4 real estate classes this month, now I have to wait for TESC to offer these classes. More than likely they wouln't offer these classes in a whole year. Ouch

Thanks to everyone for all your help. This is an amazing board. i wish I knew about this a year ago.

 

Re: Correct

Ultimale-

I'm confused: "sponsor?" "a class?" I understood one of the points of PLA was to avoid having to find an instructor. Instead, course descriptions were your guide to getting one's knowledge authenticated. Then they FIND an authority to evaluate it!

Or does TESC simply find an "instructor" to guide people through the process described in their handbook - evaluation of the portfolio is (or typically is still) a separate element. My understanding of the new format was that these "courses" are merely facilitative proceedures. (Admittedly, inconveniently more structured for you and me just doing degree completion - but helpful to many naively starting out.)

If what you say is true, much of the advantage of undergoing the process in time and convenience is defeated.

But COSC still operates the old way.


--Orson

 

ADMIN: IS THE EDITING FUNCTION WORKING?

PS Or does TESC simply find an "instructor" to guide people through the process described in their handbook - evaluation of the portfolio is (or typically is still) a separate element. My understanding of the new format was that these "courses" are merely facilitative proceedures. (Admittedly, inconveniently more structured for you and me just doing degree completion - but helpful to many naively starting out.)

 

I don't know, but I would like to find out since I often recommend TESC. The old way, once they got your portfolio they went out and shopped for someone to "grade" it. My understanding is now they would find that person first.

I know the first portofolio I did was frustrating because you sometimes aren't sure what they are really looking for. But once you get in the swing of it, it is pretty easy to see. The new system could be good because it lets you basically work on an outline and drafts so at the end you know you are not going to fail just because you didn't give them the information they wanted.

On the other hand, it seems bad because it makes the portfolios take a certain length of time. I would also imagine it prevents you from doing more than so many portfolios per semsester. I did a large number of portfolios in just a few months so if they've closed that door, I just squeeked in and it would be a shame.