Trend in Nontraditional Learning (at TESC)

[Publius]

Several weeks ago, I contacted all of the Big 3 looking for some information. None of them kept records on the the number of students who earned credit via examination or non-traditionally (90 s.h. or more). A lady at EC did say she would put in a request for the information to be tracked in the future. The closest I found was the Arnold Fletcher Award which is given to students who have earned there degree "non-traditionally" for the most part.

Arnold Fletcher Award
The Arnold Fletcher Award recognizes Thomas Edison State College bachelor’s degree graduates for achieving excellence in nontraditional learning. Award recipients are selected from each graduating class. The following areas are examples of appropriate nontraditional learning modes:

-Credit for Courses Taught
-Thomas Edison State College Courses (online, Guided Study and e-PackÂ)
-Licenses/Certificates/Registries
-Military Training Programs Evaluated by the American Council on Education (ACE)
-ACE
-Prior Learning Assessment (PLA)
-Testing Programs

Students selected for the award are required to have earned a minimum total of 90 credits from nontraditional learning.

Now, this would include those of us who have tested out of our degree. BUT it also includes people who take TESC's online courses. So, it's not accurate as far as just testing out, but it does show the trend at TESC as far as nontraditional learning goes.

This is part of the response I got from TESC:
"Regarding your request, the data that you seek was not readily available. The list of Arnold Fletcher Award graduates is provided each year in the Commencement Book and involves a manual count. So, I have provided you with three years of data in hopes that you can get a sense of how many students have recieved this Award since 1996.
You requested:
1) The number of Bachelor degree graduates each year since the year 1996 (the last 15 fiscal years, and
2) The number of those graduates each year that received the Arnold Fletcher Award since the year 1996. "

I was hoping for a bit more, but am satisfied with what I got. I did ask if it was possible if they could request to keep track of what reason the recipients of the award received it (e.g. online courses, credit by examination, etc.).

The Data

Arnold Fletcher Award Recipients:
1996: 43
1999: 77
2012: 900

Degrees Awarded:
1996: 968
1999: 1022
2012: 3222

I find it interesting that in the last 15 years, the number of degrees that TESC has awarded has increased over 3 fold. Additionally, the number of people who are completing their degree non-traditionally has increased by over 20 times!


I attached a document that I put together with a graph and table based on the information they gave me. Hopefully it works.
  Less than 1 minute ago">Arnold Fletcher Award Recipients & Number of Degrees Awarded.doc (Size: 58.5 KB / Downloads: 0)