Area of Study Course Appeal

[resistk]

Anyone have any experience with an Area of Study Course Appeal?  I took a foreign language study abroad program that was conversational and as a second language at the Intermediate level through a RA university program the prerequisite being Intermediate level courses in that language that I took at another RA college.  TESU is having trouble differentaiting the courses because they are both intermediate level. Any tips on appeals would be appreciated.

[jch]

Do you have, or can you retrieve, any course-related documents such as the syllabi, course outlines, course descriptions, etc? A lot of times TESU can't find much info about a course so they have to find the best equivalency they can using just the name. If you appeal and send in documentation you'll often have much better results. Send an email to registrar@tesu.edu titled "Appeal of Academic Evaluation" including a summary of why the credits should have a different equivalency/placement, your evidence, and your student ID. I've had decent success getting unfavorable transfer credit evals changed this way.

[studyingfortests]

I had to do a couple of course appeals. I don't remember the exact reasoning, I believe in my case it had to do with courses that TESU had initially evaluated as being in an AOS that was outside of liberal arts.

I provided a course catalog description that showed the course being cross-listed in a department that was appropriate to liberal arts, along with syllabi that showed the course content, along with a brief cover letter explaining. Adviser Don Stoltz walked me through the procedure. It took maybe 10 days. Every course appeal I submitted was approved.

[bjcheung77]

What is the issue? I'm a bit confused after reading this and the additional comments... What has the courses come into TESU as and what are you trying to appeal the decision for? We need to know more info to understand if that appeal is possible or not. For example, you took two language courses and it comes in as Lang 101 and Lang 102. What are you trying to do with these two courses? Have them evaluated at Lang 199 and Lang 299?

[resistk]

What is the issue? I'm a bit confused after reading this and the additional comments... What has the courses come into TESU as and what are you trying to appeal the decision for?  We need to know more info to understand if that appeal is possible or not.  For example, you took two language courses and it comes in as Lang 101 and Lang 102.  What are you trying to do with these two courses? Have them evaluated at Lang 199 and Lang 299?

The problem is I have four courses however two are considered duplicates of the other two and not alotted credit.

I took two courses in a foreign language at the intermediate level at one univeristy .  I then did a Summer study abroad through another univeristy for another two courses for cultural immersion and conversation in that same language at the Intermediate level because that was my level of competence.  TESU considers them both the same because they are "Intermediate"

So one was classroom in the USA; the other was in the country where the language is spoken for a cultural and language immersion.  But both are at the "intermediate" level.  

[i]In Yerevan, combine intensive Russian language study with exploration of a city and country teeming with history, art and spectacular nature. Russian is widely spoken as a second language and Armenia attracts many Russian-speaking visitors. Students training to teach Russian in Armenian schools will be active conversation partners for you, helping you to explore the city and activate your language. An integrated cultural program focusing on Armenian history and culture will take your learning outside the classroom.

[/i]Unfortunately the transcript just says "Intermediate" Russian rather than "Cultural and Language Immersion" or something similar.

[bjcheung77]

It really doesn't matter about the 'name' of the course, it could be Intermediate Russian I, II, III, IV for all that matters.  You have provided most of the info, but not all that is needed.  What was the evaluation numbers for these? In my example, I mentioned Lang 101, 102 and Lang 199, 299.  What do you have showing for yours?  The word Intermediate doesn't matter, it's the final course numbering that does...  Here's an example for Math, since it's my "WORST" subject...

Say, I have Intermediate Math I, II, III, IV, V and the numbers it comes up as MAT 1050, 1150, 1190, 1210, and MAT 1290.  These are all "intermediate" in terms of what they say the math level is... it's not a 200, 300, 400 level... Because the numbers are different, that means you have a different class and it will match up with what they have.

Applied Liberal Arts Mathematics (MAT-1050)
Intermediate Algebra (MAT-1150)
Quantitative Business Analysis (MAT-1190)
College Algebra (MAT-1210) 
Precalculus (MAT-1290)

Now, do you get what we need? If you don't provide the duplicate number info, like Russian 101, 102, 199, 299.  We don't know how you'll be successfully appealing anything, it's not like you're wanting to PLA that to a Russian 300/400 course.  It seems like you're wanting to appeal the duplicate course when you don't need to at all, it may just have the name showing differently but the numbers does the trick for you already.  It's best to send a screenshot of what's happening...

[resistk]

So here is how TESU coded things

Liberal Stud (27SH)

(Classroom Intermediate Russian done in the USA)

RUS-201 Intermediate Russian I (Replacement) 3 units
RUS-202 Intermediate Russian II (Replacement) 3 units

(The immersion program in Armenia was coded)

Other Courses

RUS-2010 Intermediate Russian I (Replaced) 4 units
RUS-2020 Intermediate Russian I (Replaced) 4 units

I don't think "Other Courses" counts towards my BALS, so at the very least would like get those 8 credits to count towards "Electives" I have no idea what "replaced" and "replacement" mean exactly but assume I need to get the 8 unit courses recoded as something else.

[bjcheung77]

Cool, that's what I thought since you mentioned the 'duplicate'... You would need to follow post #2 and #3, but in addition to what was mentioned in those posts, you really need to be crystal clear with them what your issue and request is in.  I would mention the RUS-2010 and RUS-2020 that was an immersion program in Armenia be re-evaluated as it's more of a cultural and language communications classes than a pure language courses.  To get the numbering to be different is all you need... You also want to give an example, such as this one here at RIT: https://www.rit.edu/study/modern-languag...-immersion

[resistk]

Thanks for the help and encouragement,the appeal was approved for 8 units upper level courses

[bjcheung77]

Thanks for the help and encouragement,the appeal was approved for 8 units upper level courses

That's great, for some reason I knew you would get the appeal and the 8 credits, didn't think it would come in as UL though, that's an awesome score...

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I'm really really curious though, how did you word your appeal and did you have to escalate it to the dean or higher?