11-17-2013, 08:22 PM
As many of you know, I have been taking classes through KCTCS - Learn on Demand for a couple of months. During that time, I have often posted complaints about various hurdles. I was reminded about one of those posts today and after reviewing it, I realized that the I might not be presenting the whole picture. This post is my attempt to provide the "big picture" of my experience.
I am currently enrolled in my fourth class at KCTCS, so obviously there is something keeping me around. As a matter of fact, I recently requested a review of my transcripts from previous colleges in the hope of completing an Associate of Science through KCTCS.
The Good
I am very impressed by flexibility of KCTCS. They have awarded me every credit from past course work. Many of my Air Force credits were accepted as elective credit, but it is very rewarding to have the work recognized. At a local community college, I was only awarded 8 of the 59 credits from my Community College of the Air Force transcript.
The courses are somewhat competency based. Let me explain what I mean by "somewhat." When you begin a course, you are presented with a pretest. In some of the courses the pretest is a good measure of your mastery of the material. In others, the pretest is more a measure of the content of the textbook. With the computer courses I have taken, the questions come from the publisher test bank. This is a double edged sword. Some of the test bank questions are rather silly. One such question asked whether you should greet a customer with a handshake or a smile. You would only know which by reading the textbook. Questions like these do little to measure subject matter knowledge. Except for this small issue, having competency based courses allows someone who is knowledgeable in the information to move through the course rapidly. This is especially useful for those of us who focus on one course at a time.
Communication in the courses has been very good. I had a small problem with not hearing from one professor, but there were circumstances beyond anyone's control which caused the delay. Once KCTCS administrators were made aware of the problem, the Dean of Distance Learning stepped in and took over the class. Other than this understandable delay, assignments have been graded within 48 hours of being turned in, with most being graded the next morning.
The Bad
Course difficulty varies greatly. I have to admit that the first three courses I took covered information with which I was comfortable. The fourth class is a different story. Between my lack of science background and a 16 lab report requirement, I feel like the Physics course is extremely challenging. Much of this response stems from the fact that in most classes I am able to lean on a good memory to get by. This approach will not work in Physics. On the plus side, I will learn quite a bit from this class.
There are too many hurdles to jump through when beginning the program. When I started classes with KCTCS, they required transcripts from previous coursework and a letter of good standing from my primary college before enrolling in my first course. This seems to be a holdover from traditional education. In comparison, BYU Independent courses state that there are prerequisites for certain classes and recommend that a student take them before signing up for a course, but they do not require transcripts or a letter of good standing. A student simply chooses a course, pays the tuition, and accesses the content. For those who build a degree from multiple resources this makes things much easier. Ordering transcripts from multiple sources gets expensive. Especially when the DSST transcripts cost $30 each.
The refund policy can be extremely frustrating. With most colleges you get the opportunity to begin the class and have a short time to decide if it is a good fit. With KCTCS, after the start date you can drop the class but you lose your tuition. I am sure this policy is meant to prevent people from taking the pretest and dropping the class if they are not able to bypass the coursework. This policy is what kept me in my current Physics class. If I had been aware of the workload involved in this course I would have never signed up. There are 16 lab reports which have been averaging 6 hours each. Considering labs make up only 1 credit of the four, this is a bit excessive.
Conclusion
Even with the few struggles I have had with KCTCS, I believe it is a great program for independent learners. The generous transfer credit and competency based approach outweigh any negatives. The one thing I suggest is that those considering classes should request a syllabus for the class before signing up. Once you have started the class, it is too late to drop it with a refund.
I am currently enrolled in my fourth class at KCTCS, so obviously there is something keeping me around. As a matter of fact, I recently requested a review of my transcripts from previous colleges in the hope of completing an Associate of Science through KCTCS.
The Good
I am very impressed by flexibility of KCTCS. They have awarded me every credit from past course work. Many of my Air Force credits were accepted as elective credit, but it is very rewarding to have the work recognized. At a local community college, I was only awarded 8 of the 59 credits from my Community College of the Air Force transcript.
The courses are somewhat competency based. Let me explain what I mean by "somewhat." When you begin a course, you are presented with a pretest. In some of the courses the pretest is a good measure of your mastery of the material. In others, the pretest is more a measure of the content of the textbook. With the computer courses I have taken, the questions come from the publisher test bank. This is a double edged sword. Some of the test bank questions are rather silly. One such question asked whether you should greet a customer with a handshake or a smile. You would only know which by reading the textbook. Questions like these do little to measure subject matter knowledge. Except for this small issue, having competency based courses allows someone who is knowledgeable in the information to move through the course rapidly. This is especially useful for those of us who focus on one course at a time.
Communication in the courses has been very good. I had a small problem with not hearing from one professor, but there were circumstances beyond anyone's control which caused the delay. Once KCTCS administrators were made aware of the problem, the Dean of Distance Learning stepped in and took over the class. Other than this understandable delay, assignments have been graded within 48 hours of being turned in, with most being graded the next morning.
The Bad
Course difficulty varies greatly. I have to admit that the first three courses I took covered information with which I was comfortable. The fourth class is a different story. Between my lack of science background and a 16 lab report requirement, I feel like the Physics course is extremely challenging. Much of this response stems from the fact that in most classes I am able to lean on a good memory to get by. This approach will not work in Physics. On the plus side, I will learn quite a bit from this class.
There are too many hurdles to jump through when beginning the program. When I started classes with KCTCS, they required transcripts from previous coursework and a letter of good standing from my primary college before enrolling in my first course. This seems to be a holdover from traditional education. In comparison, BYU Independent courses state that there are prerequisites for certain classes and recommend that a student take them before signing up for a course, but they do not require transcripts or a letter of good standing. A student simply chooses a course, pays the tuition, and accesses the content. For those who build a degree from multiple resources this makes things much easier. Ordering transcripts from multiple sources gets expensive. Especially when the DSST transcripts cost $30 each.
The refund policy can be extremely frustrating. With most colleges you get the opportunity to begin the class and have a short time to decide if it is a good fit. With KCTCS, after the start date you can drop the class but you lose your tuition. I am sure this policy is meant to prevent people from taking the pretest and dropping the class if they are not able to bypass the coursework. This policy is what kept me in my current Physics class. If I had been aware of the workload involved in this course I would have never signed up. There are 16 lab reports which have been averaging 6 hours each. Considering labs make up only 1 credit of the four, this is a bit excessive.
Conclusion
Even with the few struggles I have had with KCTCS, I believe it is a great program for independent learners. The generous transfer credit and competency based approach outweigh any negatives. The one thing I suggest is that those considering classes should request a syllabus for the class before signing up. Once you have started the class, it is too late to drop it with a refund.
TESC 2015 - BSBA, Computer Information Systems
TESC 2019 - 21 Post-bachelor accounting credits
TESC 2019 - 21 Post-bachelor accounting credits
![[-]](https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/images/collapse.png)