PLA through Learningcounts.org to TESC

[amilitab4k9]

Please let us know how it goes, FallingWaters. Someone had mentioned whether or not the TESC PLA-100 and PLA-200 were required for doing a TESC PLA. I asked about it and Todd told me that if you're enrolled before July 1, you don't have to take them, but you're under the old expensive pay schedule. For those of you at TESC, don't hesitate to email Todd in the PLA office about questions. He responds very quickly and actually answers your questions. I am currently going crazy trying to get straight answers out of an academic advisor over there and it makes me want to tell everyone that Todd is wonderful and the best person on staff at TESC.

[sanantone]

I never got a chance to speak with Todd, but I heard he's good for the social sciences. I kept getting an advisor who wouldn't answer my questions even though I was enrolled. Luckily, I finally got a different advisor to respond to one of my emails.

[MSinger Tesc]

Please let us know how it goes, FallingWaters. Someone had mentioned whether or not the TESC PLA-100 and PLA-200 were required for doing a TESC PLA. I asked about it and Todd told me that if you're enrolled before July 1, you don't have to take them, but you're under the old expensive pay schedule. For those of you at TESC, don't hesitate to email Todd in the PLA office about questions. He responds very quickly and actually answers your questions. I am currently going crazy trying to get straight answers out of an academic advisor over there and it makes me want to tell everyone that Todd is wonderful and the best person on staff at TESC.

This may be too much information, but here is how PLA-100 and PLA-200 work: if you have never successfully completed a portfolio before, either at Thomas Edison or elsewhere, you must take PLA-100, which introduces you to the whole concept of PLA. As someone said above, chances are this doesn't apply to anyone on this particular thread. It's 1 credit, and lasts four weeks. At the end of PLA-100, you should understand what PLA is, what college-level learning is, and whether you have any prior learning that you could earn college credit for AND that fits into your degree program. (Most adults, we find, do have prior learning, but not all of it will help you graduate, so maybe it's not worth your time and money.)

When PLA-100 concludes, you have a couple of options: if you have lots of prior college-level learning that you can earn credit for, you should enroll in PLA-200, which is worth 2 credits and lasts eight weeks. It provides the structure and guidance for completing a portfolio that can earn you credit in multiple subjects and courses. If you only identify one course that you could challenge via portfolio, you can take a Single-Course Portfolio course, which is basically our old model, one course at a time, for which you pay tuition. Or you might find that TECEPs are a better fit for your prior learning, or CLEP, or DSST, or ECE, or an ACE- or NCCRS-reviewed training program or certificate. Or you can decide you don't have any prior college-level learning, in which case you can conclude the process.

Here is a link to some more info: PLA-100 and PLA-200

Basically, PLA-100 and PLA-200 were originally a single unified three-credit course, but we allowed students an opt-out after the first four weeks, in case they found that PLA wasn't suited to them. So you can walk away at that point with a single gen ed credit, so at least it wasn't a waste.

As for Learning Counts: as someone said above, we do accept it, since it appears on a transcript approved by NCCRS. What Todd might have meant to say was that the TESC PLA process takes our own course descriptions and learning outcomes as a starting point, and you actually earn the credits when you do our PLA process, so you can feel comfortable that the courses for which you earn credit via portfolio are aligned with your degree program. However, our evaluators will map Learning Counts credit recommendations to our curriculum, so you're on pretty safe ground there too. We always recommend that you check with an advisor here (or Todd) before making any assumptions, though.

I hope that covers it. Thanks for all of the work you are doing to unearth the right information and share it with your fellow adult students. Let me know if you need us to clarify anything.

Marc Singer, Vice Provost
Thomas Edison State College

[sanantone]

So, do you need to take a portfolio course for each portfolio you create or can you just take PLA-200 once and create as many portfolios as you need?

[MSinger Tesc]

Sorry for the delay in responding--I couldn't figure out how to subscribe to threads. No, you take PLA-200 once, and you can do the whole multi-course portfolio at once through that process, or do some now and some later.

Marc Singer

[Mian]

I have a question, about both the Learning Counts and the TESC PLA process. Both say to follow closely the learning outcomes for the course, but where do I find those? I've searched around various universities for their course descriptions or a syllabus or something and what I find are these 1 or 2 line very vague/general descriptions. And for some reason TESC says the descriptions have to be within the last 2 years. I can understand that for some courses, but for a lot of English and Literature courses it doesn't make sense (I'm trying to do a BA English).

Even on the TESC site itself, it's hit or miss, mostly miss. For example, if you search their database for a class called Science Fiction (ENG-331) there's a course description and clear learning outcomes in bullet points. But if you search for Classical Mythology (ENG-346) or The Short Story (ENG-337) there's literally a one sentence description with no learning outcomes attached. I have no idea where I would find these things?? Sometimes a school will post an older syllabus, but it's way outdated by TESC standards so I assume it can't be used? Does LC also have a date requirement?

[FallingWaters]

I have a question, about both the Learning Counts and the TESC PLA process. Both say to follow closely the learning outcomes for the course, but where do I find those? I've searched around various universities for their course descriptions or a syllabus or something and what I find are these 1 or 2 line very vague/general descriptions. And for some reason TESC says the descriptions have to be within the last 2 years. I can understand that for some courses, but for a lot of English and Literature courses it doesn't make sense (I'm trying to do a BA English).

Even on the TESC site itself, it's hit or miss, mostly miss. For example, if you search their database for a class called Science Fiction (ENG-331) there's a course description and clear learning outcomes in bullet points. But if you search for Classical Mythology (ENG-346) or The Short Story (ENG-337) there's literally a one sentence description with no learning outcomes attached. I have no idea where I would find these things?? Sometimes a school will post an older syllabus, but it's way outdated by TESC standards so I assume it can't be used? Does LC also have a date requirement?

I've found that, too. Once I actually emailed the Learning Counts CS and asked what the learning outcome would be. Sometimes it all comes from that one sentence. Which is actually nice, because then you can take the course in your own direction.

[Mian]

Thanks! That makes the PLA process even more appealing. I think I'm going to give it a try.