Thomas Edison State University suspended indefinitely Shmoop courses

[allvia]

I transferred from Excelsior to TESU because I wanted to do the BA English with Shmoop courses. I had already finished 3 Shmoop English classes and transferred them to TESU. I am currently in the long process of taking Shmoop Lit in the Media, and Modernist lit. I am 75% of the way through both.
I had absolutely no clue you could pre approve external courses on your academic eval at TESU, otherwise I would have added them as soon as I started at TESU. Is it completely hopeless for me to transfer these in?
If so I guess I have wasted the past month and $87 on these last two Shmoop classes. It’s nice how TESU waited until 4pm on a Friday to send out these emails.

Focus on getting them done and transfer them in before the deadline, your transcript with TESU already indicates you planned on Shmoop courses (as you already have some).  I think the risk is worth the possible reward in your case.

[originalamyj]

Dang. That email caps off an already bad day. I think I’m missing 2 UL cr that are on my ACE transcript but not on my TESU evil yet. I guess since I completed them a while ago I will send in my ACE and see what happens. I may switch over to the BALS after all and drop this English degree plan.

[Merlin]

Wow, that's incredible. I'm sure as others have said it's because it's unproctored.

I think a lot of changes are coming to the way TESU accepts non-traditional credit, probably prompted by the school's new president. That's disappointing. If things keep going down this road, are we looking at a Big 2?

It may not have had anything to do with being unproctored. A lot of ACE recommended courses are not proctored and are still accepted by TESU.

I suspect that TESU has been reviewing credit providers (like they have done with Study.com and Straighterline) to re-evaluate course equivalencies, particularly since Shmoop had a number of UL credit courses that are LL recommended on ACE. As part of that investigation, they probably examined the format of the Shmoop course material and either decided they didn't like the content or that it no longer met their academic standards.

If it is just proctoring, then all Shmoop would have to do is add a proctoring requirement to earn credit on their courses like Saylor did. And they'd need to make some minor coding changes on the website to support the proctoring service.

---

I transferred from Excelsior to TESU because I wanted to do the BA English with Shmoop courses. I had already finished 3 Shmoop English classes and transferred them to TESU. I am currently in the long process of taking Shmoop Lit in the Media, and Modernist lit. I am 75% of the way through both.
I had absolutely no clue you could pre approve external courses on your academic eval at TESU, otherwise I would have added them as soon as I started at TESU. Is it completely hopeless for me to transfer these in?
If so I guess I have wasted the past month and $87 on these last two Shmoop classes. It’s nice how TESU waited until 4pm on a Friday to send out these emails.

Focus on getting them done and transfer them in before the deadline, your transcript with TESU already indicates you planned on Shmoop courses (as you already have some).  I think the risk is worth the possible reward in your case.

Planned means you are already an enrolled student at TESU and the courses were added to your official course plan by advising.

Since you didn't pre-plan them, you should contact advising to see if you can retroactively add these to your degree plan and complete them (which will probably be "no" since the email said the cutoff was May 2nd). Alternatively, you can ask if they would allow you to submit them anyway since you were almost done (which may also be "no").

If they say no, there is no benefit to completing them unless you want to use them somewhere else.

[MSK9]

If we are entitled to nothing else, we are entitled to the approved course list that it was promised they would abide by, originally for that first year of enrollment. At the very least, if you have had course approved and planned into your degree, there should be more time allowed than a month to send in transcripts. The whole point of applying, planning a degree and getting it approved, and then enrolling, is to lock in what they will accept for your degree. If that's not being honored, that's a problem. We are entitled to whatever's left of our year of approval, but even a few months more than what they're giving would be better than this.

I would respectfully disagree. As students, we have a "right" to have our approved degree plans honored. Otherwise, it's a pointless exercise. We also have a right to appeal any policies which we do not agree with, as per TESU's appeals and waivers policy. And if TESU feel that its students -- who are spending thousands of dollars for degrees -- don't have a right to anything, then there's a much bigger problem here than just Shmoop.

I appreciate polite disagreement.

You're painting TESU students with a very broad brush for argument's sake. Students spending "thousands of dollars" is one thing, but I'd wager that the students spending the most amount of money at TESU aren't among us here on this forum. Shmoop is a very unconventional way to pile-up credits cheaply and to some degree, easily. There's no real academic integrity in their system, which gives us as Shmoopers an advantage over brick-and-mortar students grinding our their degree.  Rights to appeal the decision are fine, but nothing here is a birthright. Ultimately, for us to be able to complete a four-year degree this way is a privilege and if the system changes, well.. we can adapt or we can be left behind.

Call and talk to an academic advisor to figure out what the specifics of your situation are. For technicality's sake, no one is enrolled until they begin a class they've paid for.. that's just how it is. Transcript evaluation is a courtesy service.

[leeloodallas]

Wow, that's incredible. I'm sure as others have said it's because it's unproctored.

I think a lot of changes are coming to the way TESU accepts non-traditional credit, probably prompted by the school's new president. That's disappointing. If things keep going down this road, are we looking at a Big 2?

It may not have had anything to do with being unproctored. A lot of ACE recommended courses are not proctored and are still accepted by TESU.

I suspect that TESU has been reviewing credit providers (like they have done with Study.com and Straighterline) to re-evaluate course equivalencies, particularly since Shmoop had a number of UL credit courses. As part of that investigation, they probably examined the format of the Shmoop course material and either decided they didn't like the content or that it no longer met their academic standards.

If it is just proctoring, then all Shmoop would have to do is add a proctoring requirement to earn credit on their courses like Saylor did. And they'd need to make some minor coding changes on the website to support the proctoring service.

---

I transferred from Excelsior to TESU because I wanted to do the BA English with Shmoop courses. I had already finished 3 Shmoop English classes and transferred them to TESU. I am currently in the long process of taking Shmoop Lit in the Media, and Modernist lit. I am 75% of the way through both.
I had absolutely no clue you could pre approve external courses on your academic eval at TESU, otherwise I would have added them as soon as I started at TESU. Is it completely hopeless for me to transfer these in?
If so I guess I have wasted the past month and $87 on these last two Shmoop classes. It’s nice how TESU waited until 4pm on a Friday to send out these emails.

Focus on getting them done and transfer them in before the deadline, your transcript with TESU already indicates you planned on Shmoop courses (as you already have some).  I think the risk is worth the possible reward in your case.

Planned means you are already an enrolled student at TESU and the courses were added to your official course plan by advising.

Since you didn't pre-plan them, you should contact advising to see if you can retroactively add these to your degree plan and complete them (which will probably be "no" since the email said the cutoff was May 2nd). Alternatively, you can ask if they would allow you to submit them anyway since you were almost done (which may also be "no").

If they say no, there is no benefit to completing them unless you want to use them somewhere else.

I have enrolled as far as applying, sending in transcripts, and getting an academic evaluation. I also have paid for a tecep.
I truly had zero idea that you could pre-plan outside courses at TESU. It was required to do so at Excelsior, but I never saw anything about it in any emails from TESU. I thought most people here on the forum had completed courses and then sent them in to see what would happen, and reported back here.. and that was how people here had compiled lists of accepted courses.

[Merlin]

I have enrolled as far as applying, sending in transcripts, and getting an academic evaluation. I also have paid for a tecep.

I believe you become enrolled ~10 days after the beginning of the period for which you purchased the course. So if you paid for a TECEP that begins on May 1st, then you'll become enrolled on the 10th. If you paid for one that started last month, then you're enrolled now. If it doesn't start until June, you won't become enrolled until June 10th.

I truly had zero idea that you could pre-plan outside courses at TESU. It was required to do so at Excelsior, but I never saw anything about it in any emails from TESU. I thought most people here on the forum had completed courses and then sent them in to see what would happen, and reported back here.. and that was how people here had compiled lists of accepted courses.

Pre-planning at TESU is not required, nor is it necessarily common. Some will try to pre-plan courses that are not part of an existing transfer agreement with TESU to make sure they are applied to their degree plan the way that they expect. However, I suspect that many (most?) here just take courses based a prior knowledge of what to expect, based on how courses have been evaluated in the past. So it isn't unusual that you don't have courses officially planned. I don't either, though I had 8 Shmoop courses listed on my personal degree plan.

The thing that really bothers me is that all the "fun" sounding GenEd credits on my plan (Pop Culture Literacy, History of Technology, etc.) were all Shmoop courses and now I won't be able to take them. It looks like I'll have to replace them with boring courses like Psychology and Sociology.

[jcasillas74]

If we are entitled to nothing else, we are entitled to the approved course list that it was promised they would abide by, originally for that first year of enrollment. At the very least, if you have had course approved and planned into your degree, there should be more time allowed than a month to send in transcripts. The whole point of applying, planning a degree and getting it approved, and then enrolling, is to lock in what they will accept for your degree. If that's not being honored, that's a problem. We are entitled to whatever's left of our year of approval, but even a few months more than what they're giving would be better than this.

I would respectfully disagree. As students, we have a "right" to have our approved degree plans honored. Otherwise, it's a pointless exercise. We also have a right to appeal any policies which we do not agree with, as per TESU's appeals and waivers policy. And if TESU feel that its students -- who are spending thousands of dollars for degrees -- don't have a right to anything, then there's a much bigger problem here than just Shmoop.

I appreciate polite disagreement.

You're painting TESU students with a very broad brush for argument's sake. Students spending "thousands of dollars" is one thing, but I'd wager that the students spending the most amount of money at TESU aren't among us here on this forum. Shmoop is a very unconventional way to pile-up credits cheaply and to some degree, easily. There's no real academic integrity in their system, which gives us as Shmoopers an advantage over brick-and-mortar students grinding our their degree.  Rights to appeal the decision are fine, but nothing here is a birthright. Ultimately, for us to be able to complete a four-year degree this way is a privilege and if the system changes, well.. we can adapt or we can be left behind.

Call and talk to an academic advisor to figure out what the specifics of your situation are. For technicality's sake, no one is enrolled until they begin a class they've paid for.. that's just how it is. Transcript evaluation is a courtesy service.

All good points, but it's insensitive at best to give students a deadline of less than a month to complete courses which had been previously approved by an academic advisor. And as far as Shmoop being an unconventional way to pile up credits cheaply and easily -- I don't disagree. But then again, that's the entire point of credit-by-exam.

[leeloodallas]

I have enrolled as far as applying, sending in transcripts, and getting an academic evaluation. I also have paid for a tecep.

I believe you become enrolled ~10 days after the beginning of the period for which you purchased the course. So if you paid for a TECEP that begins on May 1st, then you'll become enrolled on the 10th. If you paid for one that started last month, then you're enrolled now. If it doesn't start until June, you won't become enrolled until June 10th.

I truly had zero idea that you could pre-plan outside courses at TESU. It was required to do so at Excelsior, but I never saw anything about it in any emails from TESU. I thought most people here on the forum had completed courses and then sent them in to see what would happen, and reported back here.. and that was how people here had compiled lists of accepted courses.

Pre-planning at TESU is not required, nor is it necessarily common. Some will try to pre-plan courses that are not part of an existing transfer agreement with TESU to make sure they are applied to their degree plan the way that they expect. However, I suspect that many (most?) here just take courses based a prior knowledge of what to expect, based on how courses have been evaluated in the past. So it isn't unusual that you don't have courses officially planned. I don't either, though I had 8 Shmoop courses listed on my personal degree plan.

The thing that really bothers me is that all the "fun" sounding GenEd credits on my plan (Pop Culture Literacy, History of Technology, etc.) were all Shmoop courses and now I won't be able to take them. It looks like I'll have to replace them with boring courses like Psychology and Sociology.

I enrolled for the March term for the tecep, so I actually really need to take it soon.
I completely understand about your plan.. Unlike most people here, I actually really like the Shmoop courses a lot! I wouldn’t say they are easy at all, as I’ve been working on Lit in the Media for 1.5 months already. It’s a lot of reading, and some of it can be tedious, but I prefer it to writing assignments.
I guess I will try calling TESU advising on Monday. These were the last two classes I needed, other than the capstone. This is unbelievably bad timing.

[scout2family]

 "you're not enrolled yet, and we only do 2 free evaluations but I will approve this evaluation, but you need to enroll." 

I'd like to know this too. I thought they would keep applying them to the eval as you sent them.

If you're in that "applied but not yet enrolled" period, then they will only do 2 evals.  Once you've taken a course or TECEP and are officially enrolled, THEN they apply credits as they come in.

Yes, I applied-- and am not yet enrolled. I was waiting for all of my evaluations (gosh, what happens when people have 6 or 7+ transcripts from multiple institutions that they need evaluated before deciding on enrolling?). I missed that they only evaluate 2 transcripts until 2 days ago- from the registrar. She enlightened me and said she would approve a 3rd and then marked the case as closed. I hope she follows thru, but wonder if I should just enroll at this point. I don't want to screw up and lose out on the 10 Shmoop courses that I worked so hard for.

Am I understanding correctly, let's say I hadn't gotten the 3rd evaluation approved from the registrar--  I won't get the rest of my evaluation complete until I enroll for a course? I am planning on taking the Capstone in July-- for December graduation. (This scenario is if the registrar fails to get that 3rd evaluation done, like she said she would-- I really want to do everything I can to get those 30 credit from Shmoop applied!)

[BSLIONS]

I had 15 credits.... and they’re gone.