Actual Work Requirements at CalCoast?

Hi,
If you've attended CalCoast or have some intimate knowledge of their requirements, could you list them here? I'm not looking for credit hours, but what is actually involved in their average course? Research papers? Tests? Etc.... I'm especially interested in knowing what is required in their graduate courses.

 

I have my BS in Business from Cal Coast

I have my BS in Business from Cal Coast and I have completed 4 courses from the MBA program.
The course is very straight forward-read the book and answer the 100 or 200 questions for the course. If you have some knowledge on the subject, which is degtermined from your application, you take the accelerated course which is 100 question. Quiz 1, Test 1, Quiz 2, Test 2 and all are 25 question each. If you do not have knowledge of the subject you would take the standard course Quiz 1, Quiz 2, Test 1, Quiz 3, Quiz 4, Test 2 and the tests are 50 question, the quiz is still 25 questions. All questions are multiply chioce.
Everything is open book but it is not that easy. Some question are easy to answer and you can simply find them in the book word for word. Other question require an understanding of the concepts and apply them to the questions. My sister is an accountant and I called her alot for help. I still got a C in one accounting class. My sister-in-law is an attorney and I called her for help on the Business Law class.
The MBA courses are structured the same so far. It is not terrible hard but I have learned more from those classes than some classes I have take at an RA school.

 

Re: I have my BS in Business from Cal Coast

Are these quizzes proctored and do they have a time limit (i.e. 3 hours per quiz)?

 

no-everything is at home at your own pace. I completed the quiz and exam at the same time as I read the chapters

 

Re: I have my BS in Business from Cal Coast

Randell,
Thanks for your reply. Is there only one textbook for each course? Also, are these quizzes open-book? One other thing, what type of research papers are required (length, difficulty, etc)?

 

One text for each course and you can rent them from the school for only $20 for 90 days and they will allow a 30 day extension at no charge. Everything is open book. No research papers are due. If you can not find the answer to a question on the quiz/exam or your answer does not match the select, you send a seperate sheet of paper with what you think is the answer and why (reference the page and paragraph in the text) and it will be reviewed.

 

A BA with all open book tests and no papers? Sorry but it would be hard to argue that is not a degree mill.

 

I don't think it is a degree mill. Work is required to complete the courses. You don't "buy" your degree. I agree that the work is not the most difficult but some of the RA classes I have taken or CLEP exams were not very difficult. As with anything, you get out of it what you put into it. I am not going to defend or promote or bash CCU, it is what it is. I feel good about my CCU degree and I accept its limitations. Everyone will choose a school that will work best for their situation. Everyone has a different situation. When I got my CCU degree it worked for me.
I would not call it a degree mill, it is an alternate to RA schools.

 

I completed two of the 16 Psy.D. courses before withdrawing. Anyone who reads a textbook cover-to-cover deserves college credit much less reads the entire textbook and must then understand the material to the extent of correctly answering 160 of 200 questions on the subject matter.

I withdrew from CCU only because it was called to my attention that all of my professional certifications required an accredited degree in order for me to represent myself as a holder of this degree. I would estimate approximately 45 clock hours are necessary to complete a study guide (200 questions) and in some cases more depending reading speed of the student.

I learned more in the two CCU courses I took then many of the courses I completed at UF or UT.

 

I've been in multiple RA schools (undergrad and grad level) where the final (and only) exam for the course is a take-home open-book exam.

 

This discussion does raise the question of the definition of a "degree mill." There is a range of opinion -- the most generous is to use the label only for institutions that let you buy a degree without work. On the other hand, I believe that several of the RA and GAAP schools discussed in this forum are degree mills (and conversely that some of the unaccredited schools are not).

The (in)famous NIFI criteria were one attempt to codify the identification of degree mills. The criteria included the following:

• Does the school offer credit for life experience at the graduate level? …
• Does the school administer *unproctored* examinations for correspondence courses? …

It's not a surprise that the now-reclusive author of these criteria openly called California Coast University a degree mill.

 

So have I. And I've administered take-home exams, too. But they're structured so that having the book isn't the only key to success. In those cases, I've proscribed essay questions that end up more like mini-term papers than tests. But it sounds like CCU is administering open book, multiple-choice tests. These tests are not tests at all, but practice exercises designed to get you further into the reading. They do not measure your mastery of the information, just your ability to look it up.

(Of course, it could be argued that multiple-choice tests also do not measure your mastery of the subject, but instead your ability to recall facts about it. But an effective test designer can create a multiple-choice test that, in some circumstances, requires the participant to use complex thinking.)

I'm surprised CCU awards degrees on this basis. Especially the DBA, which requires no doctoral project. It sounds like one can earn a CCU doctorate with little or no writing skills. Remarkable. It makes Rushmore's model look almost good in comparison.

 

DW,
Are you stating that these were requirements for the Doctorate course were the same as those Randell posted for the Bachelor's?

 

Rich,

I agree.
I would love to see a sample of a CCU exam for comparison ...

 

Joke Work Requirements

I must disagree with Wes’s assertion that the mere act of reading a textbook cover-to-cover merits the awarding of college credit. (”I’ll take, Degree Mills That Offer Diplomas In Exchange For Book Reports, for 600, Alex.” ) It is also debatable that correctly answering any arbitrary number of multiple-choice questions correctly (in truth, it's answering 70% of the questions correctly, or even less if the exam is graded on any sort of curve, isn’t it?), while benefiting from the availability of the textbook and being able to consult with others, is a positive indication of any degree of understanding.

Unquestionably, an essay (or short answer) question, take-home, open-book exam can be much more difficult than a proctored, multiple-choice exam. This is especially true if a significant amount of extrapolation and synthesis of the material is required to answer the question properly. However, an open-book, multiple-choice, take-home exam is a joke.

The work requirement at CCU underscores what I have always maintained is the only honest justification to attend the institution; it’s easier. Interestingly enough, I don’t have a problem with that; just don’t try to convince me that the degree is equivalent to one from a regionally accredited school.

 

I had to reread that sentence three times to believe you hadn't dropped out a word. Where in the world did you get the idea that reading a textbook and answering an open book non-proctored multiple choice question test deserves college credit?!

 

Re: Joke Work Requirements

In defense of CCU, it should be noted that the multiple-choice exams are much harder than those typically administered at a regionally accredited institution. Instead of the usual 4 or 5 answers to choose from, they only give you two.

 

CCU tete-a-tete Trinity Sem (In)

Makes my old locus of ed endeavor positively shine despite getting my socks knocked off on this forum when I suggested its program had a modicum of requisites per course! Oh well, I'm more happy now and still thankful for that "abuse."

 

Re: Re: Joke Work Requirements

Are the CCU exams proctored. In an RA institution you get a combination of open book, papers, sit-in-chair and take exams, etc. Any of the tests for credit are also proctored. If the entire courseload for a CCU degree is multiple choice, open book, etc. what is to prevent the student from asking someone else the answer to your questions.

So the bottom lines comes into play -- What are the outcomes. If you believe you learn more from CCU can you compare your learning outcomes to those outcomes of regular students? Can your perceptions on this be proven? Does CCU even track this?

John

 

Re: Re: Re: Joke Work Requirements

I bet the only thing CCU tracks are the deposits to their BANK ACCOUNT!