Quality of Education Through Testing

[lolojapan]

There are people that we encounter periodically that will question the quality of education via testing. Usually these people attended a brick and mortar school where they had professors that were teaching to the test. They would often be given obvious clues in the classroom as to what would be important. They also had the benefit of upper class students who knew what was on the tests.

We, who are acquiring our education via testing, have no such luxuries. We have no professors to give us subtle clues, no upper class students to buy answers from, and no notes handed down to us by students who took the class last year. In essence we have to study harder, know more information, and cover a wider scope of material in order to pass the exams. It also requires an incredible amount of self discipline to study when there are no study buddies to get you through when you feel like you want to stop.

This is the answer that I give to those who question my quality of education through testing. Don't ever let anyone demean the quality of your education just because they had a different venue for theirs!

[malcs]

Exactly my thoughts. As I mentioned in another thread last week, this is the harder way to an education. You are on your own in all regards.

The good news is that you can control your own schedule, and possibly move much faster than the normal 15 weeks for a class. It all makes sense when you subtract the commuting time, hanging out time, and pacing the class to the slowest learner that you have in the b&m schools.

Remember the luxury of being told that you have a midterm in two weeks, or a quiz on one chapter next week? Ooooh, you have to bone up on a whole chapter over a week. Those were the easy days!

Wouldn't you love being able to hand the person that is challenging you a texbook, and tell him "CLEP next Friday"? Bet he would fail!

Also, don't forget about all of the planning that you have to do as far as your degree and your classes.

[nick94]

Exactly what you said! CLEPing is not the "chicken" (or any-other way like that) out of a degree. It is everything you said!

[dark_dan]

Well they certainly are different beasts.

Face-to-face classes are nice. There's the great social interaction. You can learn a lot from a professor too. Now that I'm all done with regular classes I know I'm going to miss them.

Distance education you have to rely on yourself and a book. It's a high reading load. At Peru with 8 week classes, you're doing 2 to 3 chapters a week per class. If you've got 3 classes at once, that's several hundred pages of reading.

I do like CLEPs though. I'm waiting for my academic progress sheet to see how many more things I can test out of it before I use up the 66 credit limit at Peru. Testing for credits is flexible though. The only deadlines are the ones you set for yourself. They're cheap!

Why I choose Peru instead of just completely testing out of a degree is based on application and critical thought. There's no doubt that exams are tough and it takes a certain kind of person to do it (some people just aren't test takers). But there are no writing assignments, there's less thinking about what you're learning. So you learn things, and you learn how to take a test; however, you don't apply the knowledge and write a properly formatted 6-page paper with multiple sources demonstrating you grasp the concepts. If the internet has taught me anything it's that people need to learn how to write.

So far at Peru my classes have been do a discussion board topic, reply to X students, write a paper or two, or do a project in addition to weekly quizzes over the reading. So every week I get to write and apply the knowledge I've learned from the book. Plus there's the social interaction between the students.

From the one CLEP I've taken so far, yeah I'm sure I've retained about as much about Sociology as I would have taking a class. With the exception exam day, I didn't get a chance to apply any of that knowledge.

[Epiphany]

....no notes handed down to us by students who took the class last year....It also requires an incredible amount of self discipline to study when there are no study buddies to get you through when you feel like you want to stop....

In essence we have to study harder, know more information, and cover a wider scope of material in order to pass the exams...

This is the answer that I give to those who question my quality of education through testing. Don't ever let anyone demean the quality of your education just because they had a different venue for theirs!

I understand your sentiment, if not your defensive stance against traditional B&M school attitude.

Does this (testing) need to be better then what they have done (Brick and Mortar) to be of value? Are we smarter? Are they smarter? Who has learned more? Who cares? Are you happy with it? This method is BETTER FOR ME then the alternative. That is what is important. I don't defend my choice of learning methods, I don't need to.

[Katterina]

Better peers.

[lolojapan]

Well they certainly are different beasts.

Face-to-face classes are nice. There's the great social interaction. You can learn a lot from a professor too. Now that I'm all done with regular classes I know I'm going to miss them.

Distance education you have to rely on yourself and a book. It's a high reading load. At Peru with 8 week classes, you're doing 2 to 3 chapters a week per class. If you've got 3 classes at once, that's several hundred pages of reading.

I do like CLEPs though. I'm waiting for my academic progress sheet to see how many more things I can test out of it before I use up the 66 credit limit at Peru. Testing for credits is flexible though. The only deadlines are the ones you set for yourself. They're cheap!

Why I choose Peru instead of just completely testing out of a degree is based on application and critical thought. There's no doubt that exams are tough and it takes a certain kind of person to do it (some people just aren't test takers). But there are no writing assignments, there's less thinking about what you're learning. So you learn things, and you learn how to take a test; however, you don't apply the knowledge and write a properly formatted 6-page paper with multiple sources demonstrating you grasp the concepts. If the internet has taught me anything it's that people need to learn how to write.

So far at Peru my classes have been do a discussion board topic, reply to X students, write a paper or two, or do a project in addition to weekly quizzes over the reading. So every week I get to write and apply the knowledge I've learned from the book. Plus there's the social interaction between the students.

From the one CLEP I've taken so far, yeah I'm sure I've retained about as much about Sociology as I would have taking a class. With the exception exam day, I didn't get a chance to apply any of that knowledge.

Try an ECE exam or a GRE exam. It's not about test taking, but how well you know the concepts and how to apply those concepts in situations. You still have to take the tests in B&M schools in order to pass the class, so the logic of your argument concerning test taking does not stand.

[nick94]

From the one CLEP I've taken so far, yeah I'm sure I've retained about as much about Sociology as I would have taking a class. With the exception exam day, I didn't get a chance to apply any of that knowledge.

And it probably took you less time to take the exam than it would have to take the class.

[bkbarden]

Exactly my thoughts. As I mentioned in another thread last week, this is the harder way to an education. You are on your own in all regards.

The good news is that you can control your own schedule, and possibly move much faster than the normal 15 weeks for a class. It all makes sense when you subtract the commuting time, hanging out time, and pacing the class to the slowest learner that you have in the b&m schools.

Remember the luxury of being told that you have a midterm in two weeks, or a quiz on one chapter next week? Ooooh, you have to bone up on a whole chapter over a week. Those were the easy days!

Wouldn't you love being able to hand the person that is challenging you a texbook, and tell him "CLEP next Friday"? Bet he would fail!

Also, don't forget about all of the planning that you have to do as far as your degree and your classes.

All so true! I have crammed four years of school into a little more than 9 months. If anyone ever thinks that is easy, I can assure them, it's not.

And when I attended a B & M school, I learned the most while cramming for the midterms or finals. It forced me to connect everything I had heard throughout the semester and remember it. So for me, this is the best way for me to learn. I'm thankful I've had the opportunity.

[B Smith]

I've found few people who have an issue with a big three degree vs. a b&m school. You still need to learn the material. The difference is that you don't have a professor to hold your hand. You don't have a bunch of filler tasks designed to keep you busy. You can't use social tactics like sitting up front and extra credit efforts to boost your grade. It all rests on your ability and understanding of the topic.