Northern Arizona University Launches Competency-Based Online Degree Program

[sanantone]

I have a feeling NAU is being inundated with emails after the posting of this thread. :p I got an answer to my question.

I know the competency-based approach to Personalized Learning is new and can be quite confusing. I’m going to try to explain this model as best I can, but I am always available for questions.



In Personalized Learning NAU traditional courses are broken up into lessons. Each lesson consists of a pretest, topics, a posttest and mastery. You will have one attempt at the beginning of each lesson to pass the pretest with an 86% or higher. If you successfully pass the pretest you are not required to take the topics or posttest. If you are unsuccessful in your one attempt at the pretest then you can choose which topics to take to help you achieve success in the posttest. The posttest can be taken as many times as needed to achieve an 86%. Just passing the pretest or posttest will give you a “B” for a grade in that lesson. You will have the option after passing the pre or posttest for each lesson to pursue a mastery, which in turn would allow you to earn an “A” in the lesson. Pretest, Posttest, and Mastery can be papers, projects, short answer tests, etc- really any assessment the faculty has selected to ensure you are proficient in the content.



So as you can see this model allows students to receive a 4.0 GPA if they choose to master all lessons, but no less than a 3.0 GPA. There are no pass/fail courses in Personalized learning as we did want to ensure this program would prepare students for competitive graduate programs. Please let me know if you have additional questions, or if you would like me to explain this in more depth. Thanks!

[Daithi]

I also just received an answer to my questions.

Hello,

Thank you for your interest in Northern Arizona University and Personalized Learning! It sounds like with your professional experience, you would likely be able to complete a degree quickly in Personalized Learning.

To answer your questions:

1. NAU may accept up to 60 units by exam, such as CLEP or DSST. And up to 35 units of ACE military credits may be transferred.

2. There are 5 requirement areas in Personalized Learning degrees: Foundations (Math and English), Liberal Studies, Foreign Language, Minor and Major.

The courses that make up the major requirement area in CIT are as follows (keep in mind that in Personalized Learning, these courses are deconstructed and delivered in lessons that integrate learning objectives and competencies from across all of the degree requirements):

· BBA 305W Effective Business Communications (3 units)
· BBA 370 Administration of Information Technology Security and Assurance (3 units)
· BBA 460 Emerging Technologies (3 units)
· BBA 465C Technology Management Project (3 units)
· CIT 121 Foundations of Computer Information Technology (3 units)
· CIT 127 Computer Information Technology I (3 units)
· CIT 137 Computer Information Technology II (3 units)
· CIT 213 Introduction to Programming for the Web (3 units)
· CIT 221 Programming Fundamentals (3 units)
· CIT 222 Business Systems Software Development (3 units)
· CIT 250 Design and Analysis of Data Structure (3 units)
· CIT 294 Technology Information Literacy (3 units)
· CIT 311 Analysis, Design, and Modeling of Databases (3 units)
· CIT 321 Fundamentals of Hardware and Operating Systems (3 units)
· CIT 341 Management and Information Technology (3 units)
· CIT 361 Fundamentals of Information Technology and Project Management (3 units)
· CIT 408 Fieldwork Experience (3 units)
· STAT 272 Applied Business Statistics (3 units)

3. The coursework is self-paced and delivered completely online.

Please let me know what other questions you have. We would be happy to evaluate your unofficial transcripts and prior learning credit to give you a better idea of what you could transfer to our program. Just let me know if you would like to do that!

Thanks,
Susan Bridgeman Rawley

A little math shows that this is 54 credits for the major portion. I'm seriously thinking of getting my AS through COSC and then getting my BA through NAU.

[taylor]

I'm seriously thinking of getting my AS through COSC and then getting my BA through NAU.

Sounds like a plan! Hopefully, this is a good alternative to the Big 3 time and cost wise, and not fool's gold like so many programs I've looked into.

[ryoder]

They really need to work on that website and upload some degree plans at a minimum.
I like the price and concept. I'd be interested in seeing which CLEP/DSST courses transfer in.

[brajalle]

The information is out there on their general site, it's not very obvious and not super accessible - their website does need major work!

So far I'm not sure how to evaluate how it compares to the Big 3 - although interestingly enough, they are aware of the Big 3 (and SUNY ESC) as they specifically mention them as schools they took inspiration from in a video presentation.

I really need to spend some time putting together a full review to try and plan something out, then address any of those gaps, but so far I've just been collecting the locations of the info that is out there. Here are the links & the basics -

General Degree Requirements - Northern Arizona University | Academic Catalog
General Ed - 34 competencies of liberal studies equaling 35 units of coursework
Major - 11 competencies equaling 54 units of NAU major courses
Minor - 7 competencies = 18 units of Lib Arts minor, 6 competencies = 18 units of CIT minor, or 6 competencies = 18 units of SBA minor
Language - 16 competencies = 16 units of Language
Elective - Anything leftover required to hit 120 units
*Math - Requires at least Math 115 - I think this is a custom course for the PL degree, College Algebra is 110, Pre-Calc is 125, you may be able to satisfy it with a higher Math course # - needs investigation - Northern Arizona University | Academic Catalog

Minor - Can be waived by having an Associates Degree, or transferring in 64 credits from a regionally accredited school, the precluded message, I'm guessing refers to not allowing a business associates to count as a minor for the SBA degree (ie can't have a similar major/minor).

General Ed course mix - You will find the course mix here I believe - Liberal Studies Program - University College - Northern Arizona University
Info on searching within their course catalog for the proper courses (may be helpful in matching) - Approved Liberal Studies Courses - Office of the Registrar - Northern Arizona University

Foundation Requirements - 7 units
4 Credits of English
3 Credits of Math (Math 115?)

Distribution Requirements - 28 units
7 credits of Science and Applied Science, to include at least one lab science (SAS) - I'm assuming that means you need a lab
6 credits of Social and Political Worlds (SPW)
6 credits of Aesthetic and Humanistic Inquiry (AHI)
6 credits of Cultural Understanding (CU)
3 additional credits of any liberal studies distribution course

They also mention 6-7 credits of writing and a capstone as part of your major - I see the capstone built into all 3 majors, and I see writing in at least 2, so I'm assuming it's built into the SBA major and just isn't labeled obviously.

Grading - This appears to be their policy - https://policy.nau.edu/policy/policy.aspx?num=100411 Basically, you can get a B no problem by doing stuff over, but it appears that you only get one chance to get an A. I'm going to quote "The Mastery can be a certification, a test, a presentation, a paper, case study, or other form of assessment. " Not sure what that means, but I'm guessing it's not going to be a cake-walk, but that it's also not going to be incredibly rare to get an A.

Residency - 30 Units, of which 18 must be upper-level (300+). Just to note, you are required to have 30 units of UL coursework in total.
https://policy.nau.edu/policy/policy.aspx?num=200101

Transfer & CBE credit - Northern Arizona University | Home Page
This seems to be a mixed bag.

First the horrid news - they don't appear to accept any DSST tests except for Physical Geology

The ok news - CLEP isn't horrid, it's not great, they really like the language tests. You can meet your language requirement with a higher score on the language CLEP's - please note, the scores vary, german for example has a min score of 60 for 16 credits, while spanish requires a score of 68. They won't give 6 credits for any of the general tests, but do give 3 for the Social Science, Natural Science, and Humanities test. I see mixed information on the College Comp test - they state in writing they require a 91% percentile (anyone know what score that is?) for credit in the Lib Arts for Eng105, but in the chart they state a score of 60-80. I see 60-80 listed multiple locations, so I'm going to guess the 91% reference may be for a challenge test or some such.

The semi-good news - AP tests, if you like them, they seem to like these.

ACE credits - This is actually listed completely elsewhere outside of this policy, it also specifically refers to members of the millitary and millitary ACE credits - Northern Arizona University | Home Page
I'm not sure what this means exactly, however, a document proposing the current year's rules http://www2.nau.edu/academicadmin/UCC-E0...byExam.doc - seems to hint that it may include non-millitary ACE credits. Other documents, also discuss ACE credits in the same breath as CLEP, DSST, AP, and do not discuss millitary ties, so who knows. Definitely needs further investigation.

Transfer Credit Limits - Firstly, they discuss 4-year colleges and 2-year community colleges separately. The 2 year schools have a credit limit (64), the 4 year schools do not discuss a limit - they may not have one outside of residency requirements. This needs further investigation. Please note, they appear to have some odd course requirements in some areas, they require an Applied Business Statistics for the SBA major (STAT272), but AP Stat transfers in as STAT270. I'm not 100% sure how useful this will be.

CBE Credit Limits - They mention 60 as the limit - note, some of the word documents I read suggested that ACE credit fit in this 60 limit. Note, they also discuss 60 as the limit of CBE no matter the source - this would include credit from another school. I think this may mean that they could reject DSST/CLEP exams used at other schools - ie the Charter Oak Associates plan I saw mentioned earlier may not end up with much in the way of transfer credit if it uses DSST/CLEP exams that NAU doesn't accept. I'm honestly not sure, it also needs further investigation.

Major/Minor requirements -
SBA Major - ******** Northern Arizona University | Standard Page
Liberal Arts Major - ******** Northern Arizona University | Standard Page
CIT Major - ******** Northern Arizona University | Standard Page

SBA Minor - ******** Northern Arizona University | Standard Page
Liberal Arts Minor - ******** Northern Arizona University | Standard Page
CIT Minor - ******** Northern Arizona University | Standard Page

*NOTE* - There are some interesting things I found digging around. One is that you can appeal for acceptance of nationally accredited coursework. Two is that they hinted that they may accept other credit-by-exam options from other colleges (ie ECE, TECEP's I'd imagine).

[brajalle]

I'm going to do a follow-up here to help start some CBE mapping onto their requirements. I have left out many AP tests, I have only included ones that offered something possibly unique or easier than CLEP options.

Foundation Requirements -
English (4) -
CLEP College COmposition - Eng105 4 units

Math (3) - Note I don't think Mat110 will work for this, PL says it requires MAT115, might be able to sub MAT125 though
CLEP COllege Algebra - Mat110 3 units
CLEP Precalculus - MAT125 4 units

SAS - Science & Applied Science (7) - (Looks like you need a lab)
DSST Physical Geology - 3 units
Natural Science - 3 units
CLEP Biology - BIO100 3 units
CLEP Calculus - MAT136 4 units
CLEP CHemistry - CHM151 & 151L 5 units
AP Chemistry - Score of 4 - CHM151 & 151L 5 units, Score of 5 - 9 units
AP Environmental Science - Score of 4 or 5 - ENV101 & 101L 4 units


SPW - Social and Political Worlds (6) -
Social Science - History - 3 units
CLEP American History 1 - HIS291 3 units
CLEP American History 2 - HIS292 3 units
CLEP American Government - POS110 3 units
CLEP Human Growth & Development - PSY 240 3 units
CLEP Macro - ECO285 3 units
CLEP Micro - ECO284 3 units
CLEP Psych - PSY101 3 units
CLEP Soc - SOC101 3 units
CLEP WEstern Civ1 - HIS240 3 units
CLEP Western Civ2 - HIS241 3 units

AHI - Aesthetic & Humanistic Inquiry (6) -
Humanities - 3 units
American Literature - 3 units
Analyzing & Interpreting Literature - 3 units
ENglish Literature - 3 units

CU - Cultural Understanding (6) - NONE FOUND

Electives (3) - Any extras I'd imagine

Languages (16) - I only listed the requirements for 16 credits, you can earn lesser amounts with lower scores
CLEP Spanish - 68 for 16 credits
CLEP German - 60 for 16 credits
CLEP French - 66 for 16 credits
AP Italian, Chinese - 4 or 5 for 16 credits
AP Japanese, Latin (either), Spanish, French, German - 5 for 16 credits

NOT SURE -
CLEP Financial Accounting - Acc Dept elective 3 units
CLEP Intro Business Law - ACC205 3 units
AP Statistics - Score of 3 - STA270 3 units = Applied Statistics - may be equiv to STA272 Applied Business Statistics in SBA/CIT

*NOTE* - The test in categories that do not list a specific course, were listed in their course equivalency as 3 units in (for example) AHI elective. I'm not 100% sure if that means it will fit in the AHI area, or if it must be in the Elective category. For now I'm assuming that it's not limited to Elective requirements, and that they simply don't have a generic course # to assign in these situations.

[mrs.b]

Not sure if anyone else commented on it already, but NAU's business school appears to be AACSB accredited, which is often a checkbox to get into some of the more prestigious graduate programs. That Small Bus. BA may be a great fast-track option for someone with eyes on some of the more highly competitive graduate schools, since all courses provide grades to meet tighter GPA requirements, and the school itself comes with the business accreditation usually restricted to much higher-priced undergrad degrees that will take the standard four years to complete. I wish it had been around two years ago!

[brajalle]

Great catch on the AACSB accreditation!

I wanted to add that I've also been looking into the lack of financial aid...it appears that the program is part of a trial program (along with 4 other schools) for competency based learning programs. The competency delivery has provisional accreditation from the regional authority and the trial program is through the DoE if I recall. In sum, it sounded like they thought they would be able to offer financial aid for the programs later this year.

I've wondered for a few days how WGU gets away with financial aid and the competency model, the only differentiation I can come up with is the letter grades or some sort of waiver.

I haven't been able to confirm anything new yet, but plan to work on it next week. Right now my gut feeling is that a tweaked Associates, is a good option for the CBE crowd. The most difficult part of the NAU degree for most people will likely be the language requirement. I'm interested if a score of 68 is possible given Spanishhour and some serious studying. If it is, then this could be really economical. I have a feeling that the language requirement, more than anything else, will likely throw people off the NAU track.

Predicted COSC A.S. Degree -
CLEP English Comp w/Essay (60)
DSST Principles of Public Speaking (?)
Charter Oak Cornerstone
DSST Business Ethics & Society (400)
CLEP US History 1 (50)
CLEP Humanities (50)
DSST Intro to World Religions (400)
CLEP Analyzing & Interpreting Literature (50)
CLEP Psychology (50)
CLEP Pre-Calculus (50) (Assuming it will meet NAU's requirements, if not then ALEKS College Algebra)
CLEP Chemistry (50)
CLEP Natural Sciences (50)
CLEP Spanish (68)
CLEP Sociology (50)

You're actually over (ie CLEP Sociology or such) by 3 credits. This will allow you to meet your NAU requirements for everything except for the following areas (not sure on math) -
Cultural Understanding (6 units)
Major (54 units)

Total Cost - If you finish in 1 semester at NAU, about $4,850, plus any study costs for the CLEP/DSST tests. Another semester puts it up to $7,350. This is quite a steal. You'll also have 63 units/credits worth of grades - this is extraordinary for the CBE community. The hardest part seems to be the language requirement.

PS - With semester tuition of $2,500, it may be possible to ignore an Associates path and complete in 3 semesters for $7,605 in costs if you separate out the language requirement into a CLEP. Possibly 2 semesters as that would be 51 units/semester. This would give you 102 credits worth of grades.

[sanantone]

I posted a thread a couple of days ago about how SNHU has already been approved for financial aid for its competency-based associate's program. They only charge $2500 per year. If you finish in 6 months, they only charge $1250.

[mrs.b]

The most difficult part of the NAU degree for most people will likely be the language requirement. I'm interested if a score of 68 is possible given Spanishhour and some serious studying. If it is, then this could be really economical. I have a feeling that the language requirement, more than anything else, will likely throw people off the NAU track.

Rosetta Stone's box set is a couple hundred at most (unless found on sale) and will honestly teach someone quickly; I got access to a trial account through work last year and was shocked at how well it worked. While it is a more costly study aid than we typically use for CBEs - in that we usually look for free or close to it - a Rosetta box for study and a CLEP can minimize the language requirement to a few weeks of dedicated study, or a month or two for less strenuous study.