Class size differences in TESC

[OfficerA]

Hey all,

Didn't realize December 2014 had opened up for enrollment, and I was planning on signing up for the last online class I need to take (English Composition II; cheaper to take the class with books and tuition assistance as military vs. the TECEP, and I need it for the residency as well). I thought all class sizes were 15 people, but I've seen some as small as 6.

Any reason why a class would be a different size? Any instructors in particular you'd recommend?

Otherwise I'll be done by tomorrow signing up for it. Thank you all for any help, as always.

[cookderosa]

Hey all,

Didn't realize December 2014 had opened up for enrollment, and I was planning on signing up for the last online class I need to take (English Composition II; cheaper to take the class with books and tuition assistance as military vs. the TECEP, and I need it for the residency as well). I thought all class sizes were 15 people, but I've seen some as small as 6.

Any reason why a class would be a different size? Any instructors in particular you'd recommend?

Otherwise I'll be done by tomorrow signing up for it. Thank you all for any help, as always.

Like anything, it's based on enrollment. In my experience, colleges have a minimum number that they must meet in order to run a second section, so if you have one class with 15 and one with 6, you might end up in a class of 21. My only opinion as a student, is that too small of a class makes forum discussions awkward. I had a master's class at Canisius with only 8 of us and it was a challenge; I think this is because the concept of weekly post with classmate replies is built on the idea of a few more students. OTOH, my leveling class had too many of us, and the forum was impossible to manage in any meaningful way.
As for picking an instructor, you can always check out Rate My Professor and see what pops up!

[OfficerA]

Like anything, it's based on enrollment. In my experience, colleges have a minimum number that they must meet in order to run a second section, so if you have one class with 15 and one with 6, you might end up in a class of 21. My only opinion as a student, is that too small of a class makes forum discussions awkward. I had a master's class at Canisius with only 8 of us and it was a challenge; I think this is because the concept of weekly post with classmate replies is built on the idea of a few more students. OTOH, my leveling class had too many of us, and the forum was impossible to manage in any meaningful way.
As for picking an instructor, you can always check out Rate My Professor and see what pops up!

Excellent point on the discussion forums. I'm practically 4 weeks ahead of one class I'm taking now, but since everyone likes to wait until the due date to post anything, I have to keep checking it until the last week before I can "write-off" the class.

I've heard of Rate My Professor since high school, but now I might actually check it out. Still, I've had a pretty good experience with TESC's classes so far (although there's a LOT of writing, for anyone looking into it), so I'm not dreading the instructor too much; I just need to grind this last one out.

Thanks for the input!

[Westerner]

Rate My Professor is excellent!

And at TESC, class sizes do vary - as Jennifer said, it depends on sign ups. As I went along, I learned tips on how to hopefully get a better professor. Often more than 1 professor teaches the same class, so if there weren't a lot of reviews, I'd sometimes wait around and pick the class with more sign ups, hoping that was the better prof. That usually worked. But don't wait too long - if you know (from reviews, Rate My Prof...), the best available prof, don't hesitate to sign up. The one class I dawdled too long on, I got the worst prof of all my time at TESC

I think it kind of also depends on if the class is UL or LL. I had around 20 classmates in one class, which was LL. All my UL classes had a lot fewer students - in one there were 4 others besides me.

The larger class kind of made it easier in discussion posts because enough usually wrote before the deadline closed in, for me to reply to. In the smaller classes, though, I got a much better level of discussion. It was a great small group setting. Felt like meeting for coffee and chatting. We'd go back and forth and the professor would join in. In the bigger class, someone would post, others would respond, the prof would rarely show up (possibly didn't want to read through all the repetitiveness), the end. Not much discussion.

[blaqberry]

Hey all,
cheaper to take the
class with books and tuition assistance as military vs. the TECEP, and I need it for the residency as well).

How is that?

[OfficerA]

How is that?

TECEP comes out to $102 flat, not including the recommended books for it depending on what subjects you decide to take (most I've spent so far is $35 for a used, older version of the Advertising TECEP recommended textbook).

The books for ENC-102 comes out to roughly $90 for me, and TESC only charges military the full rate that tuition assistance covers. For this one instance, it's cheaper to take the class for me, compared to some of the other TECEPs I've taken. Plus, assuming I pass Strategic Management, it's the last one I need to take too, and I won't be graduating any earlier than June anyway.

[blaqberry]

TECEP comes out to $102 flat, not including the recommended books for it depending on what subjects you decide to take (most I've spent so far is $35 for a used, older version of the Advertising TECEP recommended textbook).

The books for ENC-102 comes out to roughly $90 for me, and TESC only charges military the full rate that tuition assistance covers. For this one instance, it's cheaper to take the class for me, compared to some of the other TECEPs I've taken. Plus, assuming I pass Strategic Management, it's the last one I need to take too, and I won't be graduating any earlier than June anyway.

I'm no expert, but I am taking my 3rd TECEP on Monday. I just adjusted the cost per credit for each class and they have been paid.

ENC-102 cost me $0. You don't really need a particular text book for the TECEP, there were no questions. I just had to choose between a couple of topics and then write a paper based on them using the texts provided. I don't know your background, but if you have ever written papers for classes and know the basics of structure and citation you'll be fine.

[Prloko]

Hey all,

Didn't realize December 2014 had opened up for enrollment, and I was planning on signing up for the last online class I need to take (English Composition II; cheaper to take the class with books and tuition assistance as military vs. the TECEP, and I need it for the residency as well). I thought all class sizes were 15 people, but I've seen some as small as 6.

Any reason why a class would be a different size? Any instructors in particular you'd recommend?

Otherwise I'll be done by tomorrow signing up for it. Thank you all for any help, as always.

The more senior or specialized the class, the less enrollment you will see. I had a class with about 7 students enrolled. For the entire semester only two of us participated and completed the class (Total Quality Management). We needed the professor to be a participant just so we could meet the "reply to at least two" portion of the discussion boards. I actually enjoyed the class much more.