07-30-2011, 10:46 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-30-2011, 10:49 AM by cookderosa.)
I'll join in since this has also been my field forever. I teach in an AAS program as well as an adult ed department (and I'm opening a culinary trade school hoping to secure ACE evaluation for my courses...anyhooooo)
It's one of those things that are hard to understand. It's NEVER about rigor, and ALWAYS about accreditation. Simply, the college doesn't have the authority to make the CE/Adult ed courses for credit. Only colleges taught through academic departments can be for credit. The word credit, believe it or not, is a state regulated word. I, for instance, can't use the word credit in m school. I can use alternate words- like unit, hour, etc but not credit. From dept to dept, it matters. That's why people here sometimes get confused (rightfully so, I was confused, and that was after over 4 years IN ADVISING at my college!)
This is why dcan's A&P example is a good one. Any course offered through an AAS/AOS or continuing ed/adult ed department is absolutely 100% not a general education course. Titles confuse people. You would "think" that a course "called" A&P that "uses" A&P books "should be" equivalent to A&P from the bio dept. Nope. Why? Accreditation. Only courses that come from gen ed departments can be gen eds. Only courses that come from credit approved departments can offer credit.
If I take a course from a continuing ed/adult ed department, it can (in theory) be taught by anyone because that department is "outside" regulation. As a result, those courses can never flow UP into credit courses (ACE aside) in a college hierarchy. Shame on me if I title it something that sounds like a credit course (and people do) but that has nothing to do with anything.
Sorry if this post isnt up to par, I'm hot the AC is off, I can't find my coffee and I'm cranky!
It's one of those things that are hard to understand. It's NEVER about rigor, and ALWAYS about accreditation. Simply, the college doesn't have the authority to make the CE/Adult ed courses for credit. Only colleges taught through academic departments can be for credit. The word credit, believe it or not, is a state regulated word. I, for instance, can't use the word credit in m school. I can use alternate words- like unit, hour, etc but not credit. From dept to dept, it matters. That's why people here sometimes get confused (rightfully so, I was confused, and that was after over 4 years IN ADVISING at my college!)
This is why dcan's A&P example is a good one. Any course offered through an AAS/AOS or continuing ed/adult ed department is absolutely 100% not a general education course. Titles confuse people. You would "think" that a course "called" A&P that "uses" A&P books "should be" equivalent to A&P from the bio dept. Nope. Why? Accreditation. Only courses that come from gen ed departments can be gen eds. Only courses that come from credit approved departments can offer credit.
If I take a course from a continuing ed/adult ed department, it can (in theory) be taught by anyone because that department is "outside" regulation. As a result, those courses can never flow UP into credit courses (ACE aside) in a college hierarchy. Shame on me if I title it something that sounds like a credit course (and people do) but that has nothing to do with anything.
Sorry if this post isnt up to par, I'm hot the AC is off, I can't find my coffee and I'm cranky!
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