Problems with AIU

To answer your questions from what I know:
1. Does AIU have 10 credit hour classes that last 5 weeks?
- yes - majority of them. I can provide screenshots if anyone doubts?

2. How many hours of class time and study time is required (suggested by AIU?) to complete the 10 credit 5 week class?
- i havent seen a place where they suggest an amount of time - i would not assume that it is an intensive program - but more like a 3 credit program.

3. What percentage of classes have midterm and finals?
- none have midterms of finals. from the classes i have seen, each class has a weekly assignment and discussion board. there are not exams or timed quizes.

4. What other forms of evaluation take place?
- none - just upload your worr (code if applicable) and participate in discussion board.

5. What is the cost per credit hour for classes at AIU?
- still a mystery. my friends still has no clue as to how much / credit he is paying. they did give him a final figure and a payment schedule.

Yes, there is a good side to this - books are included and shipped.

 

It doesn't seem that difficult to approximate the per credit charge (guestimate book costs.)

What is it? $300-400 per credit? Not unheard of I suppose.
Ten credits in 5 weeks does seem a little too accelerated.

 

I think a BIT (or a BEE, BET, etc.) are specialized bachelors. They do not have the standard general education included into the curriculum (sort of like an AAS degreem except its a 4 year). The BIT probably does not have much coursework in the humanities, math, and social sciences as compared to a BSIT or BAIT (if there is such thing). I have also seen BAS's (bachelors of applied science) that has the same concept (I believe ASU has a BAS program w/ various industry related concentrations).

Best Regards,
Bill


PS. Do they (AIU) really have 10 credit courses? How do they fit that much into 5 weeks? Is it semester hours or some wierd credit system? Maybe its a different hour system.

PPS. I sure wish all these frikken witch hunts on RA degrees would stop. 6 months from now there are going to be no more programs left to whine about. If you think it's too easy keep it to your self (someone else may not feel the same).

 

Sounds tempting.

 

Did you attend UoP?

Thanks,

Dave

 

Re: Re: Problems with AIU

no.
none of the schools mentioned here.

 

LOL. Didn't catch that until I read your post

 

AIU is not on the semester system. They are on the quarter system. You take two classes per quarter, and the way they break it up is that you take one class per 5 weeks, and there are two 5 week terms per session for a total of 10 weeks in each quarter. You need a total of 200 quarter hours to graduate with AIU.

This is exactly the same system as I completed my associate degree under on campus at OTC. The only difference was that instead of one class for 5 weeks, I took two classes for 10 weeks. At OTC my lower division classes were generally worth 3-5 credits, while the upper division courses were worth varied amounts between 7-10. At AIU we take 20 hours per term, at OTC I routinely took between 15-20 hours per term so they are not all that out of line with other institutions on the quarter system.

AIU does require general education courses. But what you have to keep in mind is that AIU Online is a 2+2 degree completion program.

From the AIU Catalog:

AIU does require general education courses. But what you have to keep in mind is that AIU Online is a 2+2 degree completion program. You are granted 100 hours of block credit for your associate degree, assuming you have one, and you are required to have fulfilled the general education courses during your associate degree studies. If you have not met AIU’s general education requirements, you have to either CLEP them or take those courses from AIU in addition to the require courses to finish the BIT.

AIU requires 48 qtr. hours of general education, Also from the AIU catalog:

If anyone has any other questions I'd be happy to try and answer them. All of this info is avaliable in AIU's student orientation area.

 

Let me clarify my earlier post by saying that I need 200 qtr hours to graduate with AIU. Looking over the catalog they've published a new one, and future BIT students take 9 credit hour courses, have the option to add a concentration, and only need 190 qtr hrs to graduate.

 

I had a feeling it was not a semester hour system.. Thanks for the clarification, Oherra.

Bill

 

Could an AIU student confirm or deny the following questions?

1. Does AIU have 10 credit hour classes that last 5 weeks?
2. How many hours of class time and study time is required (suggested by AIU?) to complete the 10 credit 5 week class?
3. What percentage of classes have midterm and finals?
4. What other forms of evaluation take place?
5. What is the cost per credit hour for classes at AIU?

Thanks for your help clearing the air.

 

Hi Bill

You are of course correct. If AIU is based on the quarter system the numbers I qouted earlier are slightly lower.

The semester system is based on 2 15 week semesters with an additional summer term that varies in length according to the school. The quarter system is based on 4 11 week terms (fall, winter, spring and summer). Regional Accrediting groups require that schools require OVER 33 hours of class time and OVER 66 hours of study time for a 3 credit term based class. A 10 hour term based class would be OVER 99 hours of class time and OVER 198 hours of study time.

Cramming a 3 credit hour class into 5 weeks is very difficult, but not impossible. It would require OVER 6 hours of class time and OVER 13 hours of study time per week. For some one working fulltime, with family responsibility and perhaps another class that is tough. It is very likely any 5 week 3 credit hour class drops significant content from the same class held over 11 weeks.

A 10 hour class requires OVER 20 hours of class time and OVER 40 hours of study time per WEEK! That means 10 hours 6 days a week every week! Is that possible? Yes. Is that possible while working fulltime? No.

If there is something I am missing in this equation I would appreciate hearing it. From the information provided so far it would appear that AIU is dropping significant content in order to graduate part-time students in the time that full-time students often can't complete a degree in.

 

Dave,

I agree. 5 weeks is a really short time for all that required study. However, I think you can sort of compare these accelerated courses with CLEPs and DANTES. If you absorb the material quick then you are able to complete a 3sem hr class in a short time (or what ever quarter hour equivalent that is.. 5?). How do you gauge study and class time in an asynchronous course (ala blackboard) anyways? I personally averaged (guessing here) 2 or 3 hours per week (this would be posting on the discussion board, reading assignments, and checking grades). I would, obviously spend more time offline doing projects, papers, programs, etc. That is me though; some people, I am sure, find the material easier and don't spend as much time on it. Other than the typical minimum participation (have to post at least twice a week w/ and question/comment/answer to a discussion topic and reply to a students post twice a week), you won't see any communication from those students.

With all that said, I still can't understand if there are students who are taking 5 week 10 credit hour courses. The last poster gave me the impression it is TWO 5 quarter hour (10 credit) classes in a span of 10 weeks (which I have been doing, except w/ 6 semester hours at TSU) OR ONE 5 quarter hour course in 5 weeks (which seems like that would be a lot of work, but not as improbable as 10 credits in 5 weeks). All this credits, hours, and weeks is making my eyes cross!

I don't know.. I don't think we have all the facts.. I think these AIU classes are not 10 credit courses, but two 5 credit courses. Would that matter, though? I am taking 3 courses (3 semester hours each) this term (which are 10 week terms) so, I have to study for 22.5 hours a week and participate in class for 9 hours.

Oh well, I am going out on a tangent so, I will cut this short.


Best Regards,
Bill

 

AIU degrees and utility...

As a senior level administrator in a large higher education system that is involved in hiring new IT talent, I can tell you first hand that the resumes of the AIU graduates that come by my desk are not terribly impressive overall, especially when compared to more rigorous programs. I am immediately suspicious of anyone who has two masters degrees earned in less than 3 years (EE and IT), and has little or no work experience to show for it beyond some Access programming and "Windows programming", whatever that means....

On the other hand, graduates I see from other programs, and by that I mean pretty much ANY other program, seem to have more academic strength in their resume as well as significant work experience to go with it (Oracle, SQL, XML, J2EE, .net, etc.).

That doesn't mean I'm bashing AIU generally, but I would urge a caution to folks hiring their graduates - buyer beware.

The high cost of the degree and relatively brief time to complete raises huge red flags for me too in terms of their motives.

 

Yes my classes in the BIT program with AIU are 10 credit hours each one lasting 5 weeks.

I am not aware that AIU gives a suggested ammount of study time. For me it varies each week, I have been in IT a long time and so some of the material if familure and I may only put in 8-9 hours a week, while other weeks if we are covering something I do not know, I may spend every waking moment of the day working with it.

I cannot speak for all AIU classes, only those in the BIT program. None of my courses have a midterm or a final, AIU bases your grade off submitted projects and class discussion. The majority of the grade coming from projects you are asked to produce.

AIU doesn't break it's tuition down by credit hour on it's tuition schedule, but from my estimate the cost is arround 300/hr.

 

Re: AIU degrees and utility...

In my opinion, it sounds like mild bashing and discrimination to me. No everyone who attends this or any university have "motives". In my opinion, you make out that the students are in fact breaking the law or something. For some, AIU's programs are rigorous, especially if they are attempting a career change or limited background in IT/Business. I wouldn't fault anyone for what school they go to because it is not important to me. Some are trying to be a degree to meet requirements for job promotions/career changes. If they have the “significant work experience” as mentioned, what does it matter what school they went to as long as it was accredited and met minimum requirements. You should be more worried if that person can do the job.

School name-recognition is not going to keep my networks and databases running, experience in the technology will. I've done IT work for a while in the military and private industry. An IT degree is just another tool, like certifications, to determine who gets an interview and who doesn't. I've asked some IT managers this when interviewing and college didn't matter to them as long as it was accredited. One manager actually favored vocational school education because it took particular technologies that were relevant to the industry.

I come from a military background, not an academic one. I think my resume is impressive more to the fact that I gave my country 10 faithful years instead of what schools I graduated from. But that's another debate and will not dwell on it. Everything said is just my point of view.

 

An example of what I'm talking about...

I'm not discriminating, except on what I see on resumes and ability to write proper sentences on job applications. The last poster took me on about "bashing AIU", but I take issue with his utter lack of care about forming complete sentences with appropriate nouns and verbs. If this is what AIU is producing, we do not need it in the ever-more-competitive global economy where IT workers of the future will be judged as much on business skills and academic background as technology skills. Trust me - if all we want is someone to keep our databases up we can get that in India for pennies on the dollar.

 

As someone who hires IT workers we must realize that there is a broad range of skills needed in IT. I have never met an AIU graduate yet but I would not disqualify them for having an AIU credential. The degree is only one factor and various schools have different strengths. What the strength is of AIU is I cannot tell from the discussion?

Locally, I find that our local community college puts out excellent programmers and has a solid program in system administration. The local university, a Tier II research university puts out excellent CS graduates who are not only good programmers but also show strong analytical skills with applied software engineering methodology, and then there is a local college that I wouldn't consider hot in the programming area but does a good job on the business side and graduates some good analysts.

With that said it is important to get to know the type of graduates a school produces. At the same time we must consider that a majority (my educated guess, and there probably is a supporting statistic out there) of online students are adult students and not the typical 18-22 yr. old traditional undergraduate. Many of these folks are just looking for degree completion for either personal satisfaction, to qualify for jobs that require a degree, or to be able to move on towards a more advanced degree. Adult students bring a mucher greater depth of experience and the degree serves more as a qualifier over those who do not have a degree. However, with all being equal in experience a candidate with a degree from a school with a stronger reputation will more than likely win out over the school with the weaker reputation.

My 2 cents,

John

 

AIU Graduates Writing Ability

I have to agree with the poster who said the typical AIU person who posts here has atrocious grammar. I'm not trying to be mean but if my 12 year old daughter wrote like some of the AIU folks, I'd be willing to restrict her 'fun' activities until her writing improved.

Don't let the fact that you have a technical background cloud your thinking when it comes to writing well. There are no laws against discriminating against poor writers.

 

I always hate to see it when intelligent conversations are reduced to personal attacks.

I do hope you all realize that attacking one another serves no practical purpose and certainly doesn’t make your school look any better than the one you are trying to discredit.

There are always going to be those who favor one academic program over another, and those who think the coursework they took is somehow better that what someone else took. This all boils down to simple opinion, and while I have no problem with rational debate and lively disagreements, I find the personal nature of the comments to be completely lacking in any form of professionalism.