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

[jsh1138]

yes, I took it the first time for my History BA and this time for Communications. It's changed a good bit in the interim, for instance there was no oral presentation when I did it the first time and now instead of a literature review they want an annotated bibliography. So it's not really the same class anymore.

You have to take 30 new credits in your area of study for the new degree so from my POV you might as well take the capstone again but from what I understood from talking to the advisors it's required to be repeated in any case. I'm not sure you can turn in 30 new credits in just one term anyway, it took me longer than that but your mileage may vary on that as well.

It's only 13 assignments over 12 weeks though so it's really not that big a deal, and like I said the Oral Presentation is largely covered by Written Assignment 5 and the Final Paper is largely covered by Written Assignments 1-4. So really it's more like 11 assignments. I think my Oral Presentation took me less than an hour to do in total and it was 20 min long so not like it was a ton of work. Your mileage may vary but as long as you can write reasonably fast and you are familiar with presentation software it's only about as much work as a LL course really. Intro to Communications II, which is LL, also had 13 assignments over 12 weeks and other than not having an oral presentation was about the same amount of work as this course was.

TBH the first time I took this Capstone it was about 3x as much work but that could have been on me for formulating a thesis that was too broad.

[carrythenothing]

Students who have earned a baccalaureate degree from TESU or an accredited institution recognized under the Thomas Edison State University Transfer Credit Policy and wish to earn an additional baccalaureate degree must:

• Complete a minimum of 24 credits including the required capstone for the degree. These credits must be in the area of study and/or core of the degree. These credits must be earned after the date the most recent degree, regardless of academic level, was conferred.
  
• Additionally, students must complete all other degree requirements as listed in the current Thomas Edison State University Catalog.
  

https://tesu.smartcatalogiq.com/Current/...of-Degrees

It looks like "including the required capstone for the degree" was made explicit starting with the 2020-2021 catalog.

[bjcheung77]

Provider: Edx.org on behalf of TESU
Course: SOS-110 (Information Literacy, alternative transfer credit option)
Instructor: Dr. Crystal Sands (no interaction at all with the prof)
Course content: Assignments, Discussions, Quizzes, Knowledge Checks

Final exam format: I skipped the final quiz that is proctored using RPNow as my system uses WIN11 and didn't support that software. I was going to take the final quiz as my last step on a different laptop but noticed I got the verification certificate prompt that I passed the course before I got to it.  And when I wanted to do the exam, the course already closed.  It's fine for me, I didn't need to bump my percentage up as it's just a pass/fail course.

Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Haven't taken the exam, not sure if it would be identical, course ended before I tried to do the exam. Someone should check to verify content, should be a good review.  I would have taken the exam if my computer WIN11 was supported, didn't have time to try my older/slower laptop.

Time taken on course: I spent a day on this, in total about 9.5-10 hours on a day off and I also had other things (on my second monitor I was working on).  I did the cramming or skimming of info presented, quickly did the discussions, quizzes, and videos at 1.5x (I can't do the 1.75/2x that many do, I like to actually go through them slightly slower).

Familiarity with subject before course: This is a very introductory course, there are links to Excelsior/TESU APA if you need extra assistance with that subject, I highly recommend reviewing the videos and links from them.  They're short 3-4 minute for most of the video content.

Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: None, seems like a very good compact course for an intro to Info Lit and APA.
1-10 Difficulty level: 1 for most people, 2 if you've not used APA are a beginner to that.  Someone should copy/paste the links to the APA, it really reinforced the info for me to remember.

Gasp! I just looked at the screenshot again, I had 1 error on the Module 1 Quiz 2... oops, and I somewhat skipped the Knowledge Checks as these are worth only 10% of the entire course, I went straight to the 'gravy'...  Link: https://i.imgur.com/GRdScft.jpg

[jg_nuy]

Provider: Edx.org on behalf of TESU
Course: SOS-110 (Information Literacy, alternative transfer credit option)
Instructor: Dr. Crystal Sands (no interaction at all with the prof)
Course content: Assignments, Discussions, Quizzes, Knowledge Checks

Final exam format: I skipped the final quiz that is proctored using RPNow as my system uses WIN11 and didn't support that software. I was going to take the final quiz as my last step on a different laptop but noticed I got the verification certificate prompt that I passed the course before I got to it.  And when I wanted to do the exam, the course already closed.  It's fine for me, I didn't need to bump my percentage up as it's just a pass/fail course.

Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Haven't taken the exam, not sure if it would be identical, course ended before I tried to do the exam. Someone should check to verify content, should be a good review.  I would have taken the exam if my computer WIN11 was supported, didn't have time to try my older/slower laptop.

Time taken on course: I spent a day on this, in total about 9.5-10 hours on a day off and I also had other things (on my second monitor I was working on).  I did the cramming or skimming of info presented, quickly did the discussions, quizzes, and videos at 1.5x (I can't do the 1.75/2x that many do, I like to actually go through them slightly slower).

Familiarity with subject before course: This is a very introductory course, there are links to Excelsior/TESU APA if you need extra assistance with that subject, I highly recommend reviewing the videos and links from them.  They're short 3-4 minute for most of the video content.

Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: None, seems like a very good compact course for an intro to Info Lit and APA.
1-10 Difficulty level: 1 for most people, 2 if you've not used APA are a beginner to that.  Someone should copy/paste the links to the APA, it really reinforced the info for me to remember.

Gasp! I just looked at the screenshot again, I had 1 error on the Module 1 Quiz 2... oops, and I somewhat skipped the Knowledge Checks as these are worth only 10% of the entire course, I went straight to the 'gravy'...  Link: https://i.imgur.com/GRdScft.jpg

I This course is only accepted for the BACS, correct? So if you’re also doing a BACS & BSBA at the same time, you cannot use this and need to do the regular course SOS course?

[bjcheung77]

I This course is only accepted for the BACS, correct? So if you’re also doing a BACS & BSBA at the same time, you cannot use this and need to do the regular course SOS course?

Yes, it's only for the AAS Applied Computer Studies and the BA Comp Sci, but I mentioned in another few threads, there are workarounds...

[jch]

Provider: Thomas Edison
Course: PHY-1290 Physics II Lab 1CR
Instructor: Dr. Albert Lozano-Nieto. Note that this course has zero mentor interaction besides grading, unless you need to ask for help. 
Course content: This is a standalone 1-credit physics II lab for students who have already completed the 3-credit physics II course but need a laboratory component for their degree program. The course consists of six lab activities. There are no discussions, assessments, projects, or papers.
You must purchase a lab kit from the university's approved supplier at a cost of $138. Do not delay your order, as it may take up to a week for the kit to be packed and another week to arrive. Although the kit is expensive and many items in it don't get used during this course, finding the essential materials independently would likely take a lot of time and not save much money. 
The course syllabus has a recommended but completely optional textbook. Used copies of it are available extremely inexpensively. However, everything in this course is easily Googleable if you're stuck. 
You are provided with a long lab instruction document, which is a bit confusing. It references a lab manual that doesn't exist. There isn't a clear listing of the materials and prep you need for every lab activity, and I had to read the instructions several times before I understood what was actually required. 
Time taken on course: I finished the entire course in just over a week. You could probably do everything in a single weekend if motivated and focused. 
Familiarity with subject before course: Just before taking this course, I rushed through Physics I and II on Study.com to save money. Surprisingly, that largely provided me with an adequate understanding of physics to get through the course. In the past, I've also taken the CLEP Natural Sciences and a few ASU ULC courses that touched on physics. 
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: This course is MUCH easier than StraighterLine's standalone physics I lab. Not taking the physics I lab at TESU as well was a major mistake. The SL lab activities are 3x longer and more complex, there's much more of them, and the grading is very harsh. 
Unusually for TESU, no rubrics were provided in this course. The evaluation rubrics section of the Moodle course site was empty, and the assignment pages did not have any either. 
Set up your lab reports using an academic formatting style. Make a template first and then copy that for each activity. Your report needs to have the following sections:
Introduction: 2-3 sentences about the purpose of the lab activity and the work that will be done
Methods: 1-3 sentences about the materials/tools/equipment needed, 1-3 paragraphs going over the steps and procedures in your own words, and 1-3 photos of the experimental setup
Results: Copy all of the questions from the lab instructions and answer them with at least one sentence. Copy all of the tables from the instructions and fill them out. Also, include photos and/or graphs of the results if applicable. Label all figures and tables appropriately. 
Conclusion: 2-4 sentences explaining what you learned in the lab, any difficulties you encountered, comments on the lab, and how the lab relates to physics coursework.
1-10 Difficulty level: 2-3, a few labs briefly tripped me up, but overall the course is pretty straightforward once you understand how things work and have a system. Don't be afraid to get hands-on and dive in. Only a moderate level of math and science understanding is required. I ended up with a 100% A.