Ivy software

[jjCLEPINSTA]

I have been doing some fishing around about finishing the prereq's for a MBA, and stumbled upon an interesting website.

ivy software dot com.

It looks like they service quite a few different colleges, like Pepperdine and Virginia Tech. To look at the full list, just add shop. to the beginning of the url.

On their course information page, they say "Our courses can also be used for a degree completion program." Which most likely means for MBAs only.

My question is why is there no mention of this software anywhere on the site? Why aren't the Big 3 listed as being serviced by this company?

I only ask because each test is only 60 bucks, much cheaper than a CLEP. And one of the colleges I am applying to offers them.

Thoughts and opinions are welcome.

[Daithi]

I did a little bit of research and here is what I found (although I'm not sure everything I've written here is correct). There are three main accrediting bodies for business programs--- AACSB, ACBSP and IACBE. The gold standard is AACSB and a lot of business programs don't have any accrediting at all. However, business programs accredited by ACBSP and IACBE have pre- and post- assessment testing that measures Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) metrics across several core business courses, which are referred to as the Common Professional Component (CPC). This testing is part of their requirements for accreditation by ACBSP and IACBE.

There are three companies that are known for providing this testing. These companies normally offer their testing in conjunction with a university. The three main testing companies are Peregrine Academics, ETS, and Ivy Software. Normally, the way the testing works is that the test asks questions from the 12 core business areas in the CPC (Accounting, Finance, Marketing, etc.). I'm not sure if students need to pass these tests in order earn their degrees, or if the tests are just a measure of a college's effectiveness that the accrediting bodies require.

Where things get a bit more fuzzy is that Ivy Software doesn't just offer a single test that covers the entire CPC spectrum. It looks like they also offer tests for individual courses that make up the individual business courses. These courses are also prerequisites to MBA programs, and the website maintains that passing these exams meets the prerequisite requirements. However, they aren't stating that passing one of these exams is actually worth college credit. Would TESC, or any of the Big Three, accept one of these exams? I'm not sure. If ACBSP and IACBE accept them as prerequisites then they might, because ACBSP and IACBE are recognized accrediting bodies. I think someone would have to try it and find out. I'm not enrolled at TESC yet, so I'm afraid I can't be much help here. Any other volunteers?

The courses offered by Ivy Software include the following ---

Financial Accounting
Managerial Accounting
Finance
Business Math & Statistics
Economics
Management
Marketing
Information Systems
Legal Environment
Operations Management
Strategy
Ethics
International Business
Business Communications

Each course is consists of 5 or 6 chapters (one course has 7) and each chapter takes approximately 3 to 4 hours to complete, which includes an interactive computer testing portion on each chapter, and this is followed with a 40 question online final.

This would be pretty cool if the Big Three would accept these courses. I'm guessing they probably wouldn't, but who knows.

One last thing. The Ivy Software website looks horrible and very amateurish.

[Daithi]

In case anyone else is interested I sent Ivy Software the email listed below. I'll let everyone know what I hear back.

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To whom it may concern,

I recently came across your site and I’m particularly interested in your courses for Business students. Your website indicated that you offered “interactive self-paced courses... [that] can also be used for a degree completion program.”

I plan on enrolling at Thomas Edison State College in the near future. They are a regionally accredited college that is fairly liberal in recognizing credits earned from outside sources as long as they are accredited sources. For example, Thomas Edison is willing to award credit for math courses taken at ALEKS, and credit for courses taken at Straighterline because the courses they offer are accredited by the American Council on Education (ACE). Likewise, Thomas Edison will grant credit for three of the courses taken at Saylor because these courses were approved by the National College Credit Recommendation Service (Nat. CCRS).

Your website mentioned that your courses “have been approved by the ACBSP and the IACBE as meeting all the requirements for a Common Professional Component (CPC).” These are well known accrediting bodies, so it is likely that Thomas Edison would accept their recommendations that these courses are approved by them as meeting the requirements of a college level course. However, if ACBSP and IACBE are only stating that your courses meet their prerequisite requirements of an MBA program then Thomas Edison may or may not accept these courses for credit.

Has anyone at Ivy Software contacted Thomas Edison to determine if they would accept these courses for credit? If not, would you be willing to do so? An inquiry coming from an established testing body that has ACBSP and the IACBE approval, such as yourself, would carry a lot more weight than if I were to ask Thomas Edison if they would grant the credit for the courses.

By the way, if you do get approval from Thomas Edison then you also might want to check with Excelsior College and Charter Oak State College as well. They also are regionally accredited colleges with similar standards in terms of recognizing outside credits. These three colleges are collectively known as the Big Three distance learning colleges.

Thanks,
David