statistics.com @ TESC

[adavis84]

I've seen a few mentions of statistics.com around here, but was unable to find specific cases where someone applied one of their ace evaluated courses to a degree program at TESC. Does anyone have experience with this?

I'm curious because one of the grad programs I'm eyeing up (data science) prefers R and/or MATLAB experience and wants to see proficiency in a general purpose programming language.

While trying to get a different course pre-approved, I inquired with TESC about their acceptance of one or both of the following:

Either
Introduction to Python for Analytics (because I've already taken some Python course work and this seems like it might build nicely upon that).

or

R Programming - Introduction 1
and
R Programming - Introduction 2

I was told: "...we do not pre-approve ACE recommended course options for use towards your remaining program requirements. Once these courses or exams have been satisfied, you may submit the associated transcript to the Office of the Registrar for review. After these document(s) are processed, you will receive confirmation as to whether or not these options were accepted and applied as credit towards your remaining program requirements."

Well, with what these courses cost, I'm not so sure I want to risk that. There are much cheaper, non-credit ways for me to learn this material and the grad admissions requirements do not require that this experience/knowledge necessarily come from undergrad courses (they will consider a portfolio/demonstration of ability for skills acquired through other means). I simply figured that if these courses were accepted as something other than free electives, then I might be able to justify the expense to learn the material AND have it on my undergrad transcripts. I realize that the grad school will need the source transcripts either way, but I think it will be easier during the admissions process if the courses have already been accepted by an RA school as part of a degree program (is that belief even justified?).

Anyhow, thanks in advance for any help on this. I'm considering these courses because I couldn't find any similar online RA courses on these topics. Have I overlooked something?

[Prloko]

I was told: "...we do not pre-approve ACE recommended course options for use towards your remaining program requirements. Once these courses or exams have been satisfied, you may submit the associated transcript to the Office of the Registrar for review. After these document(s) are processed, you will receive confirmation as to whether or not these options were accepted and applied as credit towards your remaining program requirements."

This upsets me to no end. The school was founded on the principal of non-traditional education. The school even hands out awards to people who get a huge number of non traditional credits. Why WOULDN'T they help you plan these credits by pre-approving them?

[lavagirl]

I was asking TESC about statistics.com course " SQL and R - Introduction to Database Queries." I also sent to TESC ACE description and recommendation'
"The course objective is to enable students to learn how to think "like" a relational database, in order to manipulate matrixes and vectors of data using SQL queries. Students will learn how to bring data from a database and organize it into a flat file in R. This course will teach students how to prepare data so that they can perform basic statistical calculations (e.g. averages, tabulations, linear regressions, test of two means) to more advanced machine learning algorithms on data.
In the upper-division baccalaureate degree category, 3 semester hours in computer science or programming"

I hoped that I can use this course for upper level credits in area of study ( BA in CS) instead of TESC databases course.

This is what I got from TESC,

"Good morning and thank you for contacting Thomas Edison State College's Office of Academic Advising. In regard to your inquiry, we do not currently have equivalencies on file for these options. Unfortunately, the only way to evaluate these options would be via ACE transcript after completion. Therefore, I cannot approve or deny these options without a transcript. "

It is frustrating ... But I think that I will try to take it anyway.

[adavis84]

...But I think that I will try to take it anyway.

Please keep me posted if you do! That course caught my eye as well.

[lavagirl]

Please keep me posted if you do! That course caught my eye as well.

It will start on August 7. I will keep you posted!

[bluebooger]

I am at Excelsior, not TESC
but Excelsior preapproved these with no problem
because my email to them included the link to statistics.com on the ACE page
ACE CREDIT | The National Guide to College Credit for Workforce Training

Excelsior said "it's currently ACE approved, so no problem"

even though TESC said they won't preapprove them this makes it sound like they will definitely accept them once they get the transcript from ACE

via ACE transcript after completion.

I have taken
R Programming - Intermediate
SQL and R - Introduction to Database Queries

and am currently taking
Introduction to Python for Analytics

this is the python I'm using
WinPython
the teacher recommended "Anaconda is probably the best option, followed by Enthought"
but it's totally up to you what distribution you use

anybody who's done even a little programming should have no problem with any of these courses (except maybe R Programming - Intermediate --- my math wasn't at the level it should have been and that course was HARD -- you don't need calculus -- but you do need more than "one undergrad statistics course that you took 2 years ago")

all the courses are taught the same
every week they post a single pdf of examples and explanations (these are really good -- you can just about do the homework using the examples from the pdf)

you read through the pdf and post any questions to the forum

you can expect an answer that day (within 24 hours)

but very few people asked questions
I think most people just preferred to search the internet or read the recommended book

at the same time they post the pdf they also post an assignment
so you have an entire week to work on it

there is no web cam or proctor U or anything else
you just answer the questions and submit them

1 to 2 days later your score will be posted and comments made
the comments are nothing special
"good job"
"excellent work"
"please review the formula for sum of least squares in the book"

the books are not really required even if a course says it is -- there is nothing like "do problem 6 on page 26" -- it's just assigned reading to help you understand more
but you could easily just search the web for help on R and sql

I will say I am happy that I bought the "SQL in a Nutshell" for the R and SQL class
just because it does such a great job all throughout the book comparing all the different databases (oracle, sql sever, postgresql)

the R class and the python class requires projects at the end -- due at the time the last weekly assignment is due
the sql class did not require a project

projects are NOT group based -- thank god
projects are not really much more than a comprehensive exam

I came into these classes already knowing some C, some R and pretty much an expert in vba, excel and access
so the classes weren't difficult
in fact, as I said above, they were pretty easy (except for the math for the one class)

I am very glad I took the courses
I did learn a lot of R and a little postgresql and am learning python and pandas
the homework assignments for each class are interesting and for the most part are not stupid "hello world" and "convert Fahrenheit to Celsius" nonsense

though I do wish the sql class would have been more advanced

and I think 6 upper and 3 lower credits for $1487 isn't bad
(you get $200 off if you buy 3 at a time - so 1687 - 200)

I don't know of any RA courses in R or SPSS or matlab or python and data analytics (nothing inexpensive anyway)

however there is this if you want the portfolio route
coursera -- specialization in Data Science by Johns Hopkins University
https://www.coursera.org/specialization/...istingPage

this is where I did my intro to R

I will say my experience here is not as good as with statistics.com, but only because coursera is free (or really inexpensive) and there are TOO many people who should NOT be in the class
they really have NO business there
the forums are littered with whiny complaints
"the course is too hard"
"the instructor is horrible"
"this is not a beginner's course"

no, it's course taught by a professor at one of the best universities in the world and it requires a lot of work

the coursera courses did have videos while the statistic.com courses did not
I didn't find the videos more helpful than a pdf

I thought the coursera homework in the intro to R course was pretty advanced -- there's a LOT more "thinking on your own" than there is in the statistics.com course

the thing about the coursera courses is that if you use a webcam and pay the fee ($49 per course) you can get a verified specialization certificate

but you don't have to do the entire specialization if you don't want - you could just get a verified certificate for each course

or not pay -- do the course for free -- and get the knowledge and a "certificate of accomplishment"

oh, the coursera courses REQUIRE peer grading

so you do your R homework, submit it and then 3 random anonymous students will grade it

each student is required to grade 3 to 5 homework assignments each week
if you don't grade all the assignments then they give your assignment a zero for that week

while you grade some people's work you will see why so many people ask so many questions
they are really clueless

I feel the coursera R course was more than enough R to prepare me for the Intermediate R at statisitcs.com
I just needed more math
I did get a perfect score in Intermediate R, but only because I did extra credit questions and busted my butt searching youtube for math and statistics videos

oh, and if you'd rather learn matlab instead of R and do a verified certificate then check out
Linear Algebra - Foundations to Frontiers
https://www.edx.org/course/linear-algebr...x-ut-5-03x

oh, statistics,com gives you this little image thing you can post on your linkedin account that shows you've completed the course (if you're into that kind of thing)

[adavis84]

EXCELLENT information! Thank you!

When I contacted TESC, I included the course descriptions, the ACE recommendations, and a brief explanation of how I felt each course was suitable to both the degree program and my specific goals. Given how generic the response was, I assume the information I included wasn't even looked at (let alone considered). Oh well...I understand why they would shy away from pre-evaluating every random ACE course/exam a student hasn't even taken yet, but it's a little frustrating, nonetheless.


Anyhow, specific question for bluebooger regarding R:

I have free access to Lynda.com's R content (link). Are you familiar with it at all? I haven't looked closely at them yet. With your experience, are you able to comment on whether or not these would be sufficient preparation for the intermediate level R course from statistics.com? I am also about half done with Try R. I do like the idea of "skipping" paying for the intro courses and just taking an intermediate course from statistics.com. "Intermediate" vs "intro" level coursework will certainly not hurt in the admissions process.

As for the math part, I did both ALEKS stats, and a B&M full-term stats course (using Statdisk) this spring. I've just begun reading Advanced Statistics Demystified little-by-little as well. Hopefully, that's a strong enough base where I can fill in any gaps on the fly.

[lavagirl]

Bluebooger,

Thank you for the wonderful review of the courses. I am getting excited to take it!

Can you be so kind to tell how Excelsior transcribe for you SQL and R - Introduction to Database Queries?

Thank you in advance.

[bluebooger]

...

Anyhow, specific question for bluebooger regarding R:

I have free access to Lynda.com's R content (link). Are you familiar with it at all? I haven't looked closely at them yet. With your experience, are you able to comment on whether or not these would be sufficient preparation for the intermediate level R course from statistics.com? I am also about half done with Try R. I do like the idea of "skipping" paying for the intro courses and just taking an intermediate course from statistics.com. "Intermediate" vs "intro" level coursework will certainly not hurt in the admissions process.

As for the math part, I did both ALEKS stats, and a B&M full-term stats course (using Statdisk) this spring. I've just begun reading Advanced Statistics Demystified little-by-little as well. Hopefully, that's a strong enough base where I can fill in any gaps on the fly.

I've heard of lydia - found it while I was searching for a python course - but have no experience with them

remember where I said
"you can just about do the homework using the examples from the pdf" ?

well, that's 100% true for every week of every class EXCEPT for the first week of Intermediate R

the homework for that week was "OMG, what have I gotten myself into?"
the first week they expect and assume that you KNOW R :
how to do bar charts, how to explain what your bar chart is showing, how to sort items, how to find unique items in a list, how to count how many duplicates of each item, tricks to find row and column names ...

and none of this is taught or explained in the first week's pdf

because as far as they're concerned -- that's basic stuff
you should know how to do it before enrolling in an intermediate course

I use VBA, Access and Excel every day
I hardly ever use R -- my main exposure to R was the coursera course

I thought the first week would be a review of the basics
but no ..
they jumped right in to the intermediate stuff and assumed you knew the basics

surprisingly, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th week were FAR easier concerning R than the first week was (still difficult, still intermediate level, but not the shock or pain that week one R was)
maybe it just took me a week to remember and feel comfortable with R again

I looked at the lydia link just now and looked at the preview
they looked like they would be sufficient as long as you're willing to work hard in the intermediate course and go back through the lydia videos and search for help

the next intermediate R course isn't until september
Statistics.com - R Programming - Intermediate

I'd really suggest taking the free
Intro to R course at coursera
https://www.coursera.org/course/rprog
and even the
Exploratory Data Analysis
https://www.coursera.org/course/exdata

the intro to R just started yesterday

give it a shot,
it can be completed in 4 weeks
and then you can decide if R is something you want to continue with and pay for the Intermediate R course

Bluebooger,

Thank you for the wonderful review of the courses. I am getting excited to take it!

Can you be so kind to tell how Excelsior transcribe for you SQL and R - Introduction to Database Queries?

Thank you in advance.

I haven't sent in the ACE transcript yet -- I'm waiting till I finish the python course -- so I haven't seen how they actually apply it

all they said when they approved it was

Thank you for your message. I approved the UC Pueblo Chemistry course for you. As for all of the Statistics.com courses, yes it appears they are all evaluated through the Fall of 2017 and will apply to your Any Academic Area credits.

so, that doesn't say much

I'm doing the BS in Psychology at Excelsior
and they require a 2nd depth (at least twelve semester hours of credit in a subject area, at least 3 of which must be at the upper level)
I haven't talked to anyone at excelsior about this specifically, but I plan on using these to do a depth in information technology

[adavis84]

Again, THANK YOU! This is beyond what I was looking for!

Off to coursera for me for now!