TESU portfolio tips

[tesu-acct-student]

Singer: That student might be thinking about the Single-Course 12-week process. It's our old process but we keep it around for students who just need one course through portfolio. In that model, the per-credit cost is a little less than the regular online course charge. And you don't need PLA-200 for that, since the portfolio development is built in. But it's not cost-effective if you want to do more than one course that way. Otherwise I can't imagine what the student could be referring to.

So there is a per-credit rate. I just emailed him to see what the heck happened in my case because I was not told that the per-credit rate was for students who "just need one course through portfolio." I was told that I would pay the per-credit rate if I did not take PLA-100/200. There is actually more information that would be helpful so that you would understand why this matters to me as much as it does but it is very personal and I don't feel comfortable sharing it. There seems to be a disconnect somewhere at TESU and it directly, and negatively, impacted me.

... because you have previously completed portfolios you would not be required to take the two PLA courses. You would be able to continue doing PLAs the same way you did them previously, which we now refer to as “single course, 12-week PLAs.” In these courses, you work with a mentor submitting several drafts of a portfolio, each one reviewed before you submit the final portfolio for review and determination of credit. If you utilize that process, your cost is $213 per credit.

However, if you opt to take the PLA-100 and PLA-200 courses, you can then submit final portfolios for final review of credit, and the cost is dramatically less - $350 for the first 12 credits you submit.

[sanantone]

So there is a per-credit rate. I just emailed him to see what the heck happened in my case because I was not told that the per-credit rate was for students who "just need one course through portfolio." I was told that I would pay the per-credit rate if I did not take PLA-100/200. There is actually more information that would be helpful so that you would understand why this matters to me as much as it does but it is very personal and I don't feel comfortable sharing it. There seems to be a disconnect somewhere at TESU and it directly, and negatively, impacted me.

Yes, it is the single course option I posted about twice. It's for people who only want to submit one, three-credit portfolio. It allows them to submit a portfolio after only completing PLA-100. They won't be allowed to submit more portfolios unless they complete PLA-200, an equivalent course such as the one at Kaplan, or have successfully earned PLA credits at another school.

There was a lot of confusion when TESU switched over to the flat fee. They probably didn't know about the waiver options. I don't know who gave you that information, but all I can say is to avoid asking Todd Siben anything if you can.

[tesu-acct-student]

Back to the OP...

I have an update on my accounting portfolios. The instructor has reviewed them and left extremely positive comments on them. The credits have not yet appeared on my academic evaluation/transcript, but given the nature of her comments I feel very confident that I completed the requirements. I have not yet heard from the instructor who is evaluating the English portfolio.

[Mamasaphire]

Back to the OP...

I have an update on my accounting portfolios. The instructor has reviewed them and left extremely positive comments on them. The credits have not yet appeared on my academic evaluation/transcript, but given the nature of her comments I feel very confident that I completed the requirements. I have not yet heard from the instructor who is evaluating the English portfolio.

That's great! I'm sure you are encouraged by the comments!

I'll be watching to see how your English Portfolio turns out

[davewill]

I was asked in another thread how I got PLA credit for CS courses. By the time I wrote an answer I realized it belonged here, so I've posted it here and left a link over there to this post.

*TESU PLA: Software Engineering, Computer Architecture, C++ Programming, Advanced C++, Data Structures (2015)

off topic, but how'd you do PLAs for those ?
did you have a few years working experience as a programmer and used that as the basis for the PLA ?

I can see how it wouldn't be too difficult to demonstrate "expertise" in C++
but I really don't know how to demonstrate sufficient knowledge of Computer Architecture or Data Structures (unless maybe by doing a verified certificate at coursera of edx)

I have about 30 years of experience, which definitely helped. But you want to remember you don't need to demonstrate "expertise." Just that you learned what a college student should have learned by taking the course.

I did a detailed PLA resume that listed all of the main learning objectives from those courses and how I had learned that material. If it was a professional course, I listed it and summarized the syllabus into bullet points as best I could. If it was self-study, I listed the books or other material I'd used. I ended up with a bibliography with about 25 entries. If it was on the job, I listed the projects (from my professional resume which was also in the package) I was working on that facilitated or demonstrated that learning. I ended up creating two narratives, one aimed at the programming and data structures courses, and one aimed at Computer Engineering and Computer Architecture.

The key projects (from my PLA resume) were reviewed in detail in my narratives. For programming, I talked about specific software programs I had designed and written, detailing what techniques I used, and why I chose those implementations over other approaches. For engineering and architecture, I used my experience as an embedded developer, and as a technical lead and reviewed projects that highlighted those activities. Believe me, an embedded developer knows computer architecture inside out. My verification letters were from a colleague and 2 supervisors who could verify that I had served in those capacities in those projects, and could attest to their success. Finally I included my one patent, and a photo of my one big commercial product that I was architect and lead for.

The only one that had me worried was Computer Engineering, but it went through fine. I hindsight, I wish I had used PLA on the Operating Systems and Database Management courses. They probably would have sailed through as easily as the others. I'm not any sort of database guy, but I could have taught that class better than the mentor did. However, Artificial Intelligence turned out to be pretty interesting, and has me decided on doing Computational Perception and Robotics as my specialty for OMSCS.

I hope someone finds this helpful.

[alzee]

I hope someone finds this helpful.

I certainly did. I am not pursuing a CS/IT degree at present, and I have over 20 years experience in the field myself. To be honest, I was considering going the CS degree route since I figured a PLA could make a real dent in the credits. After taking the Kaplan PLA course, I was pretty turned off to the whole idea. Your story has me reconsidering, as well as the mind-numbing nature of the business degree approach.

When I'm finished with the ASBA, if I decide to go on to a BS, I will probably submit a PLA for review with as many courses as I can find that are in my wheelhouse and use that to decide on a specific degree direction.

[tesu-acct-student]

Update: I created portfolios for the following using the guidelines I posted earlier in this thread:

ENG-216 Business Letter and Report Writing
ACC-340 Accounting Systems & Concepts
ACC-406 Forensic Accounting
ACC-440 Accounting Theory

All 12 of the credits posted to my academic evaluation this morning.

[mccatm]

I created the checklist for that very reason. I am the kind of person who needs to SEE what is going on.

I'll use ACC-340 as an example since I've already posted the CD. Keep in mind a couple things: 1. I have worked in accounting for 18 years, mostly as a freelancer. 2. I have a terrible case of "imposter's syndrome," which means that no matter how much evidence there is that I know something, I still have strong internal doubts. This explains why I need so much detail for my PLAs. Notice that somebody here has reported that he's done narratives with 7-9 pages. I don't think I could do that. TESU (supposedly) has a policy regarding the page count, and just to soothe my own internal doubt I must do at least the minimum.

ANYWAY...

I first get the checklist setup the way I described. Then I setup a folder on my computer specifically for the course. I have a folder called TESU, and I put this course folder inside the TESU folder beginning with the course number then the name. For example:

ACC-340 Accounting Systems and Concepts

I do them all like this so that they are organized alphabetically by course number within the TESU folder.

I look at the checklist and start gathering digital copies of things, such as relevant certificates (scan them if needed) and relevant articles I've written (saved as PDFs). These get saved into that folder.

Then I open Word and save two new documents: the bibliography and the narrative. I enter the heading and my name, then I save them in that folder, even though the docs are otherwise empty. It just gives me a small sense of accomplishment to do it this way. Plus it's a good place to take a break.

Now you can go a couple different directions: work on the bibliography or work on the narrative.

Narrative: copy and paste the bullet points from the CD into the narrative document. I include an Introduction in the beginning and talk a little bit about my background and why I am qualified to write this narrative. I also explain that I've copied and pasted directly from the LOs so that the reader understand what's going on. Then I just go through the bullet points points and start writing. Sometimes I am explaining a theoretical concept, sometimes I am telling a relevant story based actual experience. The bullet points have vocabulary so I always use that plus other relevant vocab. It is probably better to include some actual relevant stories, but I did one portfolio a few years ago and there were no stories, it was purely theoretical (ACC-121 Payroll Taxes).

Hi, could you explain more on what TESC is looking for on the bibliography portion? And how many pages should this portion be on each PLA course?

[davewill]

Hi, could you explain more on what TESC is looking for on the bibliography portion? And how many pages should this portion be on each PLA course?

There is no standard for this or even a requirement that you include one. There really couldn't be since that may not be how you learned your material. In my case, I had about 25 books that I listed. These were the actual books I used in either professional courses, or in self-study to master the learning objectives of the PLA courses.

[tesu-acct-student]

Hi, could you explain more on what TESC is looking for on the bibliography portion? And how many pages should this portion be on each PLA course?

Just to be clear: davewill is right, the bibliography is not required. I included it there, since it serves as evidence. The more evidence you provide, the better the chance of earning credits with the portfolio.

For me, I used EasyBib for formatting, then wrote a few sentences describing what I learned in each book. My bibliographies were a little less than one page each (12 pt font).