The official guide to courses from the Big Three: COSC, TESU, & Excelsior

[jsh1138]

Hi guys,

Several people expressed an interest in a thread just like this one: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...YOUR-input

only dealing with courses offered by Charter Oak, Thomas Edison, or Excelsior. I didn't see one so I decided to start one here. I hope Aviator Guy doesn't mind if we steal the same format. So post any course from those three colleges, including TECEP and Uexel exams. 


Provider: 
Course: 
Instructor:
Course content: How is the material presented? Videos? Textbook? External content? Do you have to buy/have other materials?
Final exam format: How many questions? Multiple choice? Essay? Both? A project?
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Have you seen the information before in the course, or was it a total curve ball? 
Time taken on course: Hours? Weeks? Days? 
Familiarity with subject before course: Never heard of it before taking the course, Low, medium, high, I do this every day. How would you have scored on the final with no preparation?
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: 
1-10 Difficulty level: From learning the colors to rocket surgery

[mysonx3]

Can I suggest that we not limit it to the Big 3 but instead just make it about online RA courses that can be transferred in? Because I know a lot of people would rather take a class for cheaper at, say, APU than one of the Big 3

[jsh1138]

Provider: TESU
Course: History 379 Historical Methods
Instructor: Patricia O'Neill
Course content: Mostly reading selections from the textbook and discussing them, or writing essays on them.
Final exam format: The final exam is a book review written by you on a book of your choice
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: It's not exactly covered in the previous material but you can do it if you've been keeping up
Time taken on course: Depends on how fast you read. Assuming you're a good reader, it's not alot of extra effort beyond reading the book you have to review.
Familiarity with subject before course: I was studying for a history degree so I was somewhat familiar. I was not familiar at all with reviewing books as a historian would.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: None beyond just making sure you turn in your assignments on time.
1-10 Difficulty level: 3ish. If you put in the time this is not a difficult course. I enjoyed it.

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Provider: TESU
Course: COS 116: C Programming
Instructor: Biswajit Panja
Course content: You get a fat textbook on C Programming and that's it. Everything you do comes out of that textbook directly
Final exam format: You have to write a series of programs using the textbook
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Basically every assignment is writing a program of some description, so that prepares you for the final
Time taken on course: None of the assignments are long, you can probably do them in an hour each I would imagine. Most of the assignments are something direct from the textbook but slightly modified so you have to do original work on it too
Familiarity with subject before course: I haven't taken a programming course in 20 years so I needed alot of work to get through this course. If you're familiar with C, it will be a breeze
1-10 Difficulty level: 5ish for me. The course itself is simple but I had to start from scratch

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Provider: TESU
Course: LIB 495: Liberal Arts Capstone
Instructor: Arlene Sinding
Course content: It depends on what your degree is going to be in. For me (History) I had to do original research and write a paper
Final exam format: For me it was a paper
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: The course is structured so that you basically do a chunk of your final project every week, so by the end you just need to combine it and edit it. So your final exam is the same as your course work
Time taken on course: This class was extremely time consuming for me. I read probably 20 books outside of all the writing I did.
Familiarity with subject before course: I was familiar with history but knew nothing about my paper topic going in
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: 1) Keep your thesis question short with few sub-questions, 2) Do not write more than you have to. The requirement for the final is 25 pages, don't make it 100 pages because you're trying to write the greatest paper ever. Write to the course requirements and save yourself the trouble.
1-10 Difficulty level: 8. I let my thesis question get away from me and this course was a ton of work because of that. It didn't have to be though.

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Can I suggest that we not limit it to the Big 3 but instead just make it about online RA courses that can be transferred in? Because I know a lot of people would rather take a class for cheaper at, say, APU than one of the Big 3

Sure, it's fine by me if people want to throw WGU or whatever in there too. I was just saying Big Three bc that's what this forum is about. But go ahead, it won't hurt

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Provider: TESU
Course: BIO 310: Biology and Behavior of Dogs
Instructor: Ingrid Herrmann
Course content: Everything you do comes out of the textbook or through online research, aka googling
Final exam format: Your final project is to write a shortish paper on something to do with biology and behavior of dogs
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: The course gives you enough to choose from that you can find a good topic
Time taken on course: Not a whole lot really. It's not super technical material
Familiarity with subject before course: I've had dogs my whole life and took this course because it sounded fun
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: The tests tend to focus more on dog anatomy than you would think so you have to learn the names of all those body parts
1-10 Difficulty level: 2. This was a very easy course for UL Bio and I enjoyed it and felt like I learned alot.

[ReyMysterioso]

Provider: COSC
Course: Cornerstone
Instructor: I don't remember
Course content: How is the material presented? Reading excerpts provided by the course .(no textbook required). Required discussion board posts and respinses.
Final exam format: essay. 
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: there weren't really exams.
Time taken on course: Maybe 2 hrs a week on average?
Familiarity with subject before course: It's sort of a "how to college" course teaching you how to write a paper and use sources.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: 
1-10 Difficulty level: 1. If you passed English comp I or ii, nothing new here 

[jsh1138]

Provider: TESU
Course: English 393: One Writer's Vision: Jane Austen
Instructor: Dorothy Zjawin
Course content: You have to read 3 Jane Austen novels that are available for $1 on Kindle
Final exam format: You have to write a paper comparing the three novels
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Your module work prepares you for the final totally
Familiarity with subject before course: I had read Pride and Prejudice but not the other two
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: This is the easiest UL English course you will ever take. Just read the books and you'll do fine
1-10 Difficulty level: 2ish

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Provider: TESU
Course: HIS-261 Chinese History and Culture I
Instructor: Patricia O'Neill
Course content: Textbook and a study guide
Final exam format: The final exam is part multiple choice and part essay questions
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: the course prepares you for the final
Time taken on course: its a LL course so other than the reading it is not difficult or time consuming
Familiarity with subject before course: very little
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: it's pretty straightforward. Ms O'Neill likes alot of discussion so you need to do the reading
1-10 Difficulty level: 2ish

[jsh1138]

Provider: TESU
Course: TECEP 105: Liberal Arts Math
Instructor:
Course content: I studied for this using Study.com
Final exam format: 69 multiple choice questions
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: I thought the Study.com material was harder than the actual test
Familiarity with subject before course: fractions and all that I know but some of the names of different equations I had never heard before
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: I found the test to be easier than the study material and heavily slanted towards fractions and roman numerals for some reason
1-10 Difficulty level: 4ish for me. I am very rusty on my college math skills but fortunately the test was focused on the stuff I knew and not what I didn't.

[withrown]

Provider: COSC
Course: Cornerstone
Instructor: Joseph Walker
Course content: How is the material presented? A few of the essays are used for multiple assignments in all you maybe have to read 6-9. A handful of textbook readings go along with the unit tests.
Final exam format: Simple format research paper, research paper checklist and powerpoint video presentation count for 27% percent of your grade
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: The only exam content is unit tests/quizzes which are very easy. Example question: Is it wrong to not cite your source - true/false.
Time has taken on course: Most assignments are due on Sunday at 11:59 pm I generally started 8-9 pm on Sunday
Familiarity with the subject before the course: If you have taken English comp 1 & 2 and Speech you have already learned all the material for this class.
1-10 Difficulty level: 1. YMMV, but I feel like you could sleepwalk through the class and pass.

Extra Note: Make use of your included tutor.com membership, this is a great resource for any work your struggling with. I used mine to get accounting and microeconomics help.

[Life Long Learning]

It would be more useful also in the RateMyProfessors website.  Great info here.

https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/search....on=TEACHER

[jsh1138]

Provider: Charter Oak
Course: PSY216: Psychology Statistics
Instructor: Dr Claire Clifford
Course content: It's mostly done through Blackboard, their online learning portal. But you also have to use Statcrunch, an online tool for calculating stats that's honestly pretty good.
Final exam format: Every week you do a discussion, a Statcrunch assignment, and a written submission. Midterm and final papers are you analyzing psychological studies' statistics.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: If you read the book and do the weekly assignments, the midterm and finals are pretty simple.
Time taken on course: The discussions are generally due on Thurs, Statcrunch on Sat, and papers on Sun. Usually there is some math in the discussion, it's not just "talking"
Familiarity with subject before course: I knew a bit about business statistics, but most of this course was stuff I had never heard of. Psych stats are specialized in some ways
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: Basically you'd better do the reading every week or you're going to be lost. Statcrunch does almost all the work for you on those assignments so those are pretty easy. But the written papers require you to actually know what you're talking about.
1-10 Difficulty level: 3 or 4. It's not that bad if you do the work but if you don't do the work there's no way you're going to pass this. You can't BS your way through it, it's math.

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Provider: Charter Oak
Course: IDS101: Cornerstone
Instructor: Prof Sabine Meyer
Course content: It's 2 online course books and some power point presentations. Every week you have to do a discussion or two, and write a short paper. The final is a 1500-2000 word paper on the topic of your choice. Then you have to make a powerpoint summarizing the course
Final exam format: Final paper and a powerpoint.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: If you have taken English Comp 1 and 2, you have seen everything there is to see here
Time taken on course: the discussions are due Wed and everything else Sunday. You could do everything you have to do in a week in probably 2 hours per week
Familiarity with subject before course: This is my 2nd degree so I knew most everything here.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: Generally none. Dr Meyer is really strict about deadlines, repeatedly saying things like "you can't turn in assignments late for any reason so don't ask". So if you have her, turn it in on time.
1-10 Difficulty level: 1

[akr680]

Anyone taken BSBA capstone? How hard is that?

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