TESC Students Needed (Especially those savvy degree planners)

[Chebasaz]

Okay, I think I've got most of the (major) kinks worked out and it's time for some serious testing. I'd like the help of all the degree planners out there. If you're new to planning a degree with CLEPs, you probably want to skip this. It's not quite ready for mass consumption yet.

Over the last six months, I've been working on a degree planning tool. The goal was to create something that would show new Big 3 students what tests would equal what degree requirements. It would walk them through each of those requirements and at the end of the process would spit out a handy sheet with exactly what they'd need to take. Sort of the same thing a lot of you do with excel spreadsheets, but for the beginner.

I think we've got most of the infrastructure down and I've loaded four or five Thomas Edison Associate degrees into the application. Would you guys mind taking a look? Here's what I'm looking for:

- Errors in how I've laid out the exams based on TESC policy
- Requirement conflicts
- Software bugs
- Suggestions and recommendations on changes


Once I get the nod from you guys on the TESC Associates; I'll load the Bachelors and we'll have another round of testing. Once that's done, I'll move on to Excelsior and COSC.

Here's how you can access it (It's hidden otherwise) -

First, go ahead and create an account if you don't have one already - Free Clep Prep

Once you've logged in, come back to this page and click this link - http://practice-exams.free-clep-prep.com...ccess=true

You should now see the Degree Planner tab on the top menu. Let me know if that gives anyone trouble.

I've always wondered why nobody has ever done this before and now I know - It's an insane amount of work. I'm reasonably certain that my developer wants to kill me for this one. Still, he did a great job with this and I think it'll help a lot of people when it's fully up and running. I'd appreciate it if you guys could help us get there.

Thanks all!

P.S. - There's some things that don't work yet (the help links for example) so ignore those. I'm looking for basic functionality feedback. Still gotta work on all the bells and whistles.

[brothert69]

Chebasaz, please note these observations are based upon a brief testing session and do not represent a complete pre-release testing. I found a few minor issues as indicated below. Also your browser interoperability is good because I was able to duplicate issues under ie and firefox. If you need additional testing feel free to let me know.

environment:
Windows 7 Home Premium X64 w/ service pack 1
Internet Explorer 8.0.7601.17514

school: tesc

degree: associate applied science
-did not recognize exams selected in one section (ie humanities) in another section (ie free electives)

degree: as biz admin
-exam selection is only available in the free electives and management core catagories preventing user from completing a degree plan

degree: as science and tech
- no errors observed

degree: as science and math
- no errors observed

note: clicking the update tests button in any degree returned user to degree selection page


environment:
Windows 7 Home Premium X64 w/ service pack 1
Firefox 3.6.17

same issues as testing in internet explorer

[Chebasaz]

Brother,

Thank you, that's exactly what I was looking for. Looks like we broke something on the last round of fixes. Those expanded menus for each requirement on the Applied Science degree are supposed to start collapsed. Likewise, the same .js error seems to be the culprit for the Business degree not allowing the requirements to be expanded. And here I thought we were done with all of those kinds of bugs. What worries me is that they seem to be degree specific.

Also, thanks for the heads up on the "Update Tests" button. I've noted it along with a new table glitch that I just found in Chrome.

And so it continues...

Thanks again!

[brothert69]

let me know when you roll out the fixes and I'll run through it again. also i have access to different browsers (ie, firefox, chrome, safari) and platforms (win 7, xp, os x, and i think i have a vista box floating around somewhere) so if you need testing done in specific os or browser I probably have you covered.

[KyleH]

I'm totally up for running it through some tests for everything that I know. What you're doing is great.

[Chebasaz]

Thanks Kyle, the more the merrier!

Okay, got the .js issues fixed which seems to have been responsible for the majority of the noted errors. Still chasing down one that's causing the webpage to expire on Win 7/IE8. For the record: I really, really dislike IE. These little exercises make me remember why I switched to FF and Chrome.

Will give everyone a few days to hopefully see this thread and give feedback. After that, I'll start adding the TESC Bachelor degrees and we'll go from there.

Appreciate all the help!

[dcan]

Justin,

FYI College Composition Modular is only 3 credits, not 6.

Neat tool BTW. I was just thinking a few days ago, "Why hasn't someone built that? Maybe I should..."

[brothert69]

Thanks Kyle, the more the merrier!

Okay, got the .js issues fixed which seems to have been responsible for the majority of the noted errors. Still chasing down one that's causing the webpage to expire on Win 7/IE8. For the record: I really, really dislike IE. These little exercises make me remember why I switched to FF and Chrome.

Will give everyone a few days to hopefully see this thread and give feedback. After that, I'll start adding the TESC Bachelor degrees and we'll go from there.

Appreciate all the help!

Im not a big fan of IE either but it is used by a ton of people so you have to support it or risk losing a large consumer base. Is it possible that its not an IE/Win 7 issue but maybe a windows defender or other anti malware issue or an IE 8 smart screen issue?

[Chebasaz]

@Dcan - Thanks for the head's up there. I'll get that changed shortly. Originally I thought this would take a month to create, tops. That was back in January. banghead It ended up being much more complicated. Colleges have their own software for this sort of thing and it doesn't come cheap - New degree planning software to roll out during summer There's a slight difference in funding available as I'm trying to keep this under $2k total. Thankfully, it doesn't have to do nearly as much as DegreeWorks. Also, with you guys as beta testers, I'm getting some serious talent for free. :p

@Brother - Aye, we have to play the game even though I hate the rules. I did find an interesting thing about the expired page bug today - it seems to be degree specific. It doesn't happen on the business administration degree and I'm getting a parsing error that may be related. Sent it off to the developer for him to look at. Once that's fixed we'll roll into the Bachelor degrees.

[burbuja0512]

Justin,

I didn't take a look at this, but wanted to just let you know that you can count on me for help with COSC!

Keep up the good work!