How do you keep track of your progress?

[Charca]

Hey folks! I've recently got accepted at TESU to pursue a BACS degree and this week I'll be starting with my study plan. I think I got my spreadsheet in pretty good shape and I'll be using it to keep track of the credits that I've earned vs the credits that I still need, but I was wondering if you used a different method for tracking and visualizing your progress towards your degree. Not only in terms of amounts of credits but also to keep track of progress within each course. For example, for an individual course I'd like to keep track with something like:

Spanish 101
Chapters Finished: 5/22
Assignments Completed: 0/2
Final Exam Approved: No

I know each study platform has some sort of progress visualization, but I was wondering if you used something like a Dashboard were you could see your progress across all platforms.

Also, if you organize your studies for a particular month or period of time in a specific way, I'd love to see how you do it. I love to keep things organized, and having a way to clearly visualize my progress helps a lot with my motivation. I hope you'd share your methods with the rest of us!

Thanks,
Maxi

[katelynn]

Subscribing to get some ideas for myself.

I'm a disorganized mess over here. I don't know what I'm doing.

[bjcheung77]

In brief, I kept mine simple, I created the plan, and I used my spreadsheet as a degree reference tool and progress tracker. This is how I did my courses. I grouped them together, example: Business courses, Math, Sciences, etc and worked on them so it would have the most overlap. Then I worked on the AOS last.

So, essentially I did the General Education first, Professional Business Requirements second, and the AOS last. In order to break them down further, I grouped the courses by specific providers, such as completing the free credits and ALEKS first, finishing all StraighterLine courses next, and then working on completing the Study.com courses last.

[MNomadic]

I find that with these self paced courses it's best to only focus on 1 or 2 at a time so I didn't really need to track partial course progresses for multiple courses. It also helps to focus on 1 platform at a time. This is especially true for subscription based platforms like SL or SDC.

[Merlin]

For me, I have several spreadsheets...

I have one sheet that contains the courses for my degree plan. This includes the requirements for each section of my degree and a list of courses I'm considering to meet each requirement. Once I complete a course, I mark the requirement as complete. This also tracks the number of credits I've earned so far. On a second tab, I have a running list of the courses I plan to take. I mark the course I'm currently working on in green and delete it from the list when it's been completed. This tab also tracks the number of courses and credits I have remaining. I also have a list of alternate course options on the bottom of the sheet in case I decide I don't like a course or want to swap some things around.

I have a second sheet that tracks the courses and exams I've completed, the dates they were completed, the score I received, and whether I have submitted them for ACE evaluation or sent the transcript to my school yet. This is mostly to make sure I don't forget to do something.

I also have a third sheet that I use as my database of what courses (and exams) are available from each of the main alternative credit providers. I track a bunch of info for each course, but this also includes expected TESU evaluation info and ACE/NCCRS recommendation details. This gets updated constantly as new courses emerge or assessments get updated. This is mostly for my own purposes. For example, I used it a lot when creating my degree plan or when I'm considering alternatives, but I also use this when helping others navigate their course options.

I refer to the first and last sheet pretty much daily.

Like MNomadic, I tend to focus on one course and one provider at a time. As soon as I finish the final exam for one course I begin on the next.

[kevinmane]

I did mine in a Spreadsheet starting with the courses/exams I was going to take first and ending with the courses to take last.

So like if you were going to do Straighterline classes first to make sure you don't pay more for longer, you put the all the SL classes first in the order that you're planning on taking them. When you finish a course, highlight that row to show that it's done and move on to the next one.

[Murdockb]

For me, I have several spreadsheets...

I have one sheet that contains the courses for my degree plan. This includes the requirements for each section of my degree and a list of courses I'm considering to meet each requirement. Once I complete a course, I mark the requirement as complete. This also tracks the number of credits I've earned so far. On a second tab, I have a running list of the courses I plan to take. I mark the course I'm currently working on in green and delete it from the list when it's been completed. This tab also tracks the number of courses and credits I have remaining. I also have a list of alternate course options on the bottom of the sheet in case I decide I don't like a course or want to swap some things around.

I have a second sheet that tracks the courses and exams I've completed, the dates they were completed, the score I received, and whether I have submitted them for ACE evaluation or sent the transcript to my school yet. This is mostly to make sure I don't forget to do something.

I also have a third sheet that I use as my database of what courses (and exams) are available from each of the main alternative credit providers. I track a bunch of info for each course, but this also includes expected TESU evaluation info and ACE/NCCRS recommendation details. This gets updated constantly as new courses emerge or assessments get updated. This is mostly for my own purposes. For example, I used it a lot when creating my degree plan or when I'm considering alternatives, but I also use this when helping others navigate their course options.

I refer to the first and last sheet pretty much daily.

Like MNomadic, I tend to focus on one course and one provider at a time. As soon as I finish the final exam for one course I begin on the next.

This is great advice. Thanks! Can you tell me what headings you use on your third sheet? I really need to create one of these for my reference but I'm kind of dreading the initial input. I know the information is in this forum but sometimes *in the moment* I just can't make the search function find it.

[bjcheung77]

Ah yes, a few of us, have a spreadsheet "matrix" of where the courses are coming from and what it transfers as for TESU...
Because the courses change so often or some providers come and go, we actually don't have a set spreadsheet on the forum... That is why I just link people to the "websites" or transfer guides and have them create a template themselves.

[Merlin]

I also have a third sheet that I use as my database of what courses (and exams) are available from each of the main alternative credit providers. I track a bunch of info for each course, but this also includes expected TESU evaluation info and ACE/NCCRS recommendation details. This gets updated constantly as new courses emerge or assessments get updated. This is mostly for my own purposes. For example, I used it a lot when creating my degree plan or when I'm considering alternatives, but I also use this when helping others navigate their course options.

This is great advice. Thanks! Can you tell me what headings you use on your third sheet? I really need to create one of these for my reference but I'm kind of dreading the initial input. I know the information is in this forum but sometimes *in the moment* I just can't make the search function find it.

I have several tabs, one for each for different provider. Since each provider is different the headers can vary for each one, but these are the main ones I use:

• Course Name (ID and name)
  
• ACE Course Code
  
• ACE Credit Recommendation (like 3U for 3sh upper-level)
  
• ACE Expiration Date
  
• NCCRS Credit Recommendation (like 6L for 6sh lower-level)
  
• TESU Course Equivalency (ID and name)
  
• TESU Credits
  
• TESU Equivalency Source
  
• TESU Subject Area(s)
  
• # of Quizzes (for study.com)
  
• Final exam & quizzes breakdown (for Straighterline)
  
• Open book final Y/N (for Straighterline)
  
• Cost (for exams)
  
• Other notes
  

Notes:
For TESU Equivalency source, I indicate whether it has been come from TESU, provider, and/or confirmed via evaluation.

TESU Subject Areas refers to stuff like BSBA AOS, BSBA GM, BSOL, etc. If its a GenEd course I usually list which GenEd area, such as WritComm / OralComm / QuantLit / InfoLit / Diversity / Ethics / CivicEng / Humanities / SocSci / Science. If more than one area, I separate them with commas.

[MSK9]

I started with a spreadsheet dfrecore put together. Once I understood what I had, I refined it further. I kept a Word document with all of my total credits on it sorted by credit types (i.e. CLEP, ACE, Brick and Mortar). Once I had a course uploaded and accepted by ACE, I also copied the ACE transcript to its own separate document.