TESU Course equivalency question.

[jbwyo]

Hi, I've been lurking for a bit and this is my first post so I will do a quick introduction first.  I'm 52 and retired from my first career in law enforcement recently.  I never really needed a degree, and while I thought about it over the years I never really acted on it.  I'm now a Juvenile Probation Officer and will need a degree to move on into my next career as (hopefully) a case manager for family services, or possibly becoming a special education teacher for a few years before I'm ready to stop working.  My first goal is to get an AA and BALS with a social sciences concentration from TESU and then possibly go through WGU for the SPED degree.  

I have four lower level credits for Immigration Law (4) from an ACE approved academy from a very long time ago.  Does any know if these credits would satisfy the Civic Engagement portion of the General Education requirements of the BALS?

Will the Sophia Greek Philosophers course satisfy the Information Literacy requirement?

Thanks, and I hope to contribute more as time goes by.

Edited to add:  I also somehow have a Introduction to Criminal Justice course and an Introduction to the Administration of Justice course from two different schools.  Does anyone know if they will be counted as the same course?  I suspect so, but hope I would somehow be able to get credit for both.

[davewill]

Honestly, the only way to really know about any of them is to apply to TESU and send in your transcripts.

[Merlin]

Hi, I've been lurking for a bit and this is my first post so I will do a quick introduction first.  I'm 52 and retired from my first career in law enforcement recently.  I never really needed a degree, and while I thought about it over the years I never really acted on it.  I'm now a Juvenile Probation Officer and will need a degree to move on into my next career as (hopefully) a case manager for family services, or possibly becoming a special education teacher for a few years before I'm ready to stop working.  My first goal is to get an AA and BALS with a social sciences concentration from TESU and then possibly go through WGU for the SPED degree.  

I have four lower level credits for Immigration Law (4) from an ACE approved academy from a very long time ago.  Does any know if these credits would satisfy the Civic Engagement portion of the General Education requirements of the BALS?

Will the Sophia Greek Philosophers course satisfy the Information Literacy requirement?

Thanks, and I hope to contribute more as time goes by.

Edited to add:  I also somehow have a Introduction to Criminal Justice course and an Introduction to the Administration of Justice course from two different schools.  Does anyone know if they will be counted as the same course?  I suspect so, but hope I would somehow be able to get credit for both.

Sending in transcripts is the best way to be sure. But to take a crack at answering:

1) "Civic Engagement: Demonstrate effective, responsible, and meaningful skills while engaged in the political life of a community."
I'm pretty doubtful that a law course, even one on Immigration Law would satisfy the political requirements for this. So my guess is no.

2) "Information Literacy: Identify, locate, evaluate and effectively and responsibly use and share information for the problem at hand."
Information Literacy is about learning how to research. To be considered a course will generally need to be focused on research methods or on library sciences. So chances are that Greek Philosophers won't satisfy that requirement.

3) As for Introduction to Criminal Justice vs. Introduction to the Administration of Justice, it depends on the syllabus of the two courses and the material each cover. Just because two courses have a similar (or even the same) name, doesn't guarantee that they will be considered the same course. It depends on the judgment of the course evaluators. However, if they are both evaluated to the same course equivalent then one will be considered duplicate and will usually not be accepted for credit.

That's my guess, but again, send in your transcripts and see what happens.

[bjcheung77]

Hi. I have homework for you. Please answer the following info:
1) Are you leaning towards cheap, easy, fast or a combo of them all? Rank them in priority.
2) How busy are you? How much time do you have to spend on studying?
Do you have family/kids that you have to attend to?

What you might want to do is decide which providers you want to use for obtaining credit and get the credits rolling in. I suggest getting started with the free credits and also the ALEKS math courses first and decide on CLEP/MS or Saylor/SL/Study.com, etc.

You may want to check out the Beginners Guide and Wiki, they're in my signature. You can create your own spreadsheet by using mine as a reference tool. See post #27/28 on the Beginners Guide for My Degree Plan! excel file, customize it to reflect what you need. Get your plan in action and keep working on it until all the required courses are complete!

[armstrongsubero]

I agree with Davewill, apply to TESU and see how they place it.

[jbwyo]

Thanks for the replies everyone.    I'm going to apply as soon as I finish Cyber 201, 301, Aleks, and the Greek Philosopher's course with Sophia.  I will have all of the free credits once I'm done with TEEX next week and will use the $50.00 off coupon for Sophia once those are done. 

I want to get the BALS done as soon as possible because that will equal an immediate raise for my current job and set me up for the DFS job which I think I would enjoy more than what I do now.  I have fifty-four credits right now and will have four more TEEX credits and hopefully six Aleks credits by the end of the month.  I suspect I may be using study.com quite a bit to finish this up.   I have a place close by to take CLEP tests, but DSSTs and TECEP exams would have to be taken three hours away.  

I'm planning on doing most of the classes over the winter.  We don't have children at home but we are really busy in the summer between taking care of animals and general hobby farm maintenance.   I'm pretty sure I will be taking quite a bit of study.com classes,  I have a CLEP testing site close but have to travel almost three hours away to take DSST and TECP exams, so I will avoid those two avenues unless absolutely necessary.  

I will add a signature line here this weekend with what credits I have and post my degree plan once I get the evaluation done.  I will also try to share my progress as I complete tests and/or courses.  Thanks again everyone!

[dfrecore]

The Sophia course won't work for Info Lit, they're pretty picky about what will work there.