Northern Arizona University's new program for awarding credit for existing knowledge

[GokkunMilkshake]

Announcement here

Sounds promising! Perhaps we might have to add another one to "The Big Three"?

[NAP]

This does look interesting. I hope more schools will realize the benefits of offering credit-by-exam-type-degrees. Just be careful about getting into a program before it is accredited.

[sanantone]

A couple of Texas universities are looking to copy WGU's competency-based system. I know one can complete WGU programs pretty quickly because they're self-paced, but how much does the competency-based system speed up the process? I've read reviews that said that prior knowledge of a subject in a WGU module doesn't really reduce the amount of work by much. This is mostly with their performance assessments. They do have objective assessments for some of their subjects that are a lot like credit-by-exam. I'd rather just take a CLEP, DSST, ECE, etc. than write a huge paper in a PLA-type course. If NAU goes with more of a testing approach, that would be good.

[GokkunMilkshake]

Okay, so I wrote NAU asking about the program.

From the School:
"I understand that you are interested in our Personalized Learning initiative at Northern Arizona University. At this time, we are still in the planning stages and we don’t have a date for which we hope to start the program. We are hopeful that we will have more information available after the first of the year.

If you would like to respond to this email with some more information, I would be happy to keep your information on file so we can contact you know when we have more information. Specifically, what type of programs are you interested in and how is it best to reach you? Email, phone, etc.

Thank you for your interest and I look forward to contacting you with more information soon!"

I wrote:
"I would be interested in engineering related degrees, such as: Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering. My ultimate goal is to get into Robotics. Degrees in that field are usually specializations of either Electrical or Mechanical Engineering.

Right now I am in process of finishing out a bachelors degree. I have disparate credits at many schools in the lower division, and I am trying to corral them all to a school that will allow me to finish a useful bachelors degree as quickly as possible while minimizing courses.

One of my plans was to utilize CLEP to test for credit, or StraighterLine/ALEKS courses online to obtain credit recommendations via ACE, while taking anything remaining here at Maricopa Community Colleges. I could either get a Maricopa Community college to give me a non letter grade credit, or get another school to do so and transfer in.

I am wondering if there are specific requirements on how many classes can be credits that are non letter grade - CLEP, or awarded via ACE recommendation."

Their response:
"Thank you for the information! Sounds like you have a very specific goal in mind which is terrific! And you very much sound like the type of student who could be right for our program.

At this time, we will launch the initiative with baccalaureate degrees only but we do hope to add master’s level programs in the future.

One of the things we are still working on is how to use ACE credits, transfer credits, CLEP tests, etc. in the process. At this time that, all of those processes are yet to be determined so I can’t answer those questions yet.

Should you decide to earn a bachelor’s degree first and then come to NAU for a master’s degree, our admission criteria generally is to accept a bachelor’s degree from an institution accredited by the appropriate regional association. Our NAU Graduate College makes graduate admission decisions so you might want to review their admission requirements here: Graduate Admissions Policy - Graduate College - Northern Arizona University.

I see that we have you in our database currently so when we have more concrete information about Personalized Learning, we will let you know!"

[sanantone]

That's good, but how hard is it to determine how to use ACE, CLEP, and other alternative sources of credits? Intro to Business should be transcribed as Intro to Business. Sounds pretty simple to me.

[GokkunMilkshake]

That's good, but how hard is it to determine how to use ACE, CLEP, and other alternative sources of credits? Intro to Business should be transcribed as Intro to Business. Sounds pretty simple to me.

I'm sure there are far more strict limitations they intend to place, and a balance to strike. Remember they are partnering with Pearson for this, so I'm sure they need to maximize the amount of money they make.

[sanantone]

Yep. That sounds about right. I think I'd rather pay a high enrollment fee like the one at TESC, however. :p

[GokkunMilkshake]

Got another response on what kind of courses:

"We are hoping to offer bachelor’s degrees in Computer Information Technology, Liberal Arts and Small Business Administration. All of the Personalized Learning programs will be online. We just don’t know when we will be starting! "