Before coming to college, I went to C-TEC during the last two years of high school. I was in the computer information system (CIS) program for two years. I also took some college math classes. These classes were for high school and college credit. CIS was a general computer course. The students were to learn how to build computers and websites. We had capstone projects each year where we could do whatever we wanted as a project (sort of). There’s a lot more to the course than that, but that’s the basic description of the course. It had its good points and bad points.
I certainly preferred working with computers than spending all day in study hall at my high school. I really enjoyed doing my capstone projects. During my first year I built a space shooter in flash. During my second year I built a website for our class. Our class had software we could borrow through the Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance (MSDNAA). To check out the software we had a notebook that we could sign out the software and check it back in when we were done with it. The website allowed users to register, login, check out, check in and request software. It was built in PHP and MySQL. It had an admin backend for the teacher to see who had what checked out. It had a log of everything that was ever checked in and out for record purposes. It also emailed the student and teacher about what they checked out. I really wanted to do something with PHP and MySQL so I was happy to be able to work on that project especially. I learned a lot from these projects.
I have a couple problems with C-TEC. Our instructor was not qualified to teach this subject. He lacked a large amount of knowledge in many areas. He did not keep up with the current trends in technology. Many subjects he taught us about were lectures that he copied word for word information from Wikipedia (he never cited this information). He generally did not have an answer to your question. He was very unprofessional and had grammar mistakes in his presentations. Not the best teacher I’ve ever had. I have had a couple other teachers like him in high school. Not prepared at all, lacks knowledge, and unprofessional.
My other problem with C-TEC was that many of the credits I earned were wasted when I enrolled in DMD. The only ones I got credit for were Web I and my math courses. Some of the programs like programming had no credits that would transfer. I wish they would work on making the credits transfer to more of the programs at COTC. I didn’t think I would get a bunch of credits to transfer over since it was CIS, but I was hoping for more. A lot of the non technical classes like business ethics, salesmanship and so forth were taught in this course, but we did not get credit for it. I might have enrolled in another program if more credits were transferred over, but there were no other programs like that. So almost all of the college credits I earned were wasted. The idea of earning college credits while in high school is a great idea, but still needs improvement.
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I know how you feel when it comes to credits not transferring. I went to Zane State for Criminal Justice; not only was this program a waste of my time, but a lot of the credits that could have transferred did not. At Zane State a good portion of my classes were different areas of psychology and sociology, however, when I came to COTC my basic psychology class did not even transfer. There are guidlines on how to compare the course descriptions from the previous institution to COTC's. If you can prove that the class you have already taken has covered what COTC's standards are then they will accept the transferred credit. The process can be difficult much less time consuming and cheaper than retaking a class.
Another way to receive college credit is to take CLEP tests. COTC grants credit for about 14 different CLEP tests, and I ended up taking one for College Algebra. I studied on my own for a couple of weeks, took the test, and received credit shortly afterward.
I wouldn’t recommend taking a CLEP unless you are familiar with the subject, but it is a great way to avoid spending extra time learning about something you already know.
CLEP sounds like a great idea. I never thought about trying that. Thanks for the suggestion Susan! I assume you can not test out of any DMD classes? I asked a long time ago, but they told me I couldn't. So I assumed it was the same for all classes. I was hoping to test out of digital software fundamentals and some of the stuff I'm more comfortable with. That way I had more time to focus on things I had not learned.
No, there aren't any CLEP tests for the DMD classes, but you can test out of some of the general classes like Psychology or Biology.
Here is the link to a COTC document that gives some details on non-traditional credit options:
http://www.cotc.edu/current-students/policies-procedures/Documents/Policies_Admiss_09.pdf
Note: It is a very long PDF, but you can use the search tool to find the section on CLEP tests.
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