WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Thomas Edison State College has developed a new pathway that allows students to complete an Associate in Science in Business Administration degree by taking free, open, online courses from the Saylor Foundation that are aligned with the college's prior learning assessment program.
"In the past two years, there has been much debate about how open online courses benefit students," said Marc Singer, vice provost of the college's Center for the Assessment of Learning. "Our program enables students to take high-quality open courses at no cost and then apply what they learned in those open courses by taking our assessments. This process allows them to earn credit that can be applied to a degree program at Thomas Edison State College."
Thomas Edison State College's new Open Course option enables students to earn credit by either passing a TECEP® or other credit-by-exam program aligned with a Saylor course or successfully completing a portfolio assessment that documents they have gained the college-level knowledge aligned with the degree requirement.
More than 20 Saylor courses are currently part of the Open Course option, as are the college's new online prior learning assessment courses, .
The program is not limited to students interested in earning credits toward the college's Associate in Science in Business Administration degree, as students can apply credits through the program to most bachelor's degree programs at the college to satisfy general education elective or free elective requirements.
"This is an interesting option for adult learners who prefer to work independently, enjoy credit-by-exam programs and are interested in prior learning assessment," said Dr. Michael Williams, dean of the School of Business and Management at Thomas Edison State College. "This model offers students a more flexible, efficient way of completing their associates degree that has the potential of saving time and tuition dollars."
About Thomas Edison State College
Thomas Edison State College provides flexible, high-quality, collegiate learning opportunities for self-directed adults. One of New Jersey's 11 senior public institutions of higher education, the College offers associate, bachelor's and master's degrees in more than 100 areas of study. Students earn degrees through a wide variety of rigorous and high-quality academic methods that can be customized to meet their individual needs. Identified by Forbes magazine as one of the top 20 colleges and universities in the nation in the use of technology to create learning opportunities for adults, Thomas Edison State College is a national leader in the assessment of adult learning and a pioneer in the use of educational technologies. The College is home to The John S. Watson Institute for Public Policy. The New Jersey State Library is an affiliate of Thomas Edison State College. For more information about the College, visit www.tesc.edu or call (888) 442-8372.
About the Saylor Foundation
The Saylor Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. As part of our mission is to make quality education freely available to all, we employ experienced faculty to design K-12, university, and career level courses from the wealth of material available on the Web. Today, the Foundation's free education initiative at Saylor.org provides over 300 standard and college credit-aligned courses to anyone with an Internet connection. More information about the Saylor Foundation is available at www.saylor.org.
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