College - Need Some of Your Thoughts

matradley

Hi everyone:

As you may know, I have been certifying for a while as well as attending a College program. I am having a difficult time exempting some of my courses even though they do allow a combination of experience and certifications to permit a course exemption. First, as you can tell, I have several certifications. In addition, I have a personal business I have been running for 5-years supporting clients and small/SOHO networks. Accordingly, I have 2-3 years of developing, designing, and managing a large Wireless Network using Bell Nexxia as our backbone. We also use Split Multi-Link Trunking for our network and QoS to deliver quality service to VOiP clients. If you want to read of what company I am referring to, here is the link - http://www.cfbpetnet.com.

I want to get opinions on a passage in our course outline. We are trying to determine what other battle strategies we can use to get them to use our certifications as the basis of exemption. The following quote comes from the course monograph:

"The program provides students with abilities and expertise to support the use of computers and networks. Graduates are able to work individually or as part of a team to implement and maintain information technology solutions that correspond to the day-to-day requirements of individuals and organizations. From repairing desktop computers to monitoring network operations and beyond, graduates work in a broad range of employment settings in a variety of sectors in both large and small organizations.

The program focuses on technical aspects of commonly used components and troubleshooting techniques for computer hardware, operating systems, networking technologies, system administration, and a suite of related support and application software packages. It also supports students in developing their communication and administration skills, including the ability to work in teams and utilize project management and customer service techniques.

Requirements and subject matter found in certifications such as CompTIA's (Computer Technology Industry Association) A+ and Network+, Linux+, and Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) are used in this program, with some courses fulfilling part of the basic requirements of (Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MSCE), I-Net+ and Novell Certified Linux Engineer (CLE) certifications. Although actual certification is not part of this program, students will be well prepared to write related certification exams.

The program has a dedicated lab, which has been updated to provide each student with a spacious ergonomically correct workstation. All computer workstations have high-speed fiber-optic access to our main campus and the Internet via our CAT5 wired Local Area Network (LAN). There are a variety of desktop operating systems including Mandrake Linux, Microsoft Windows 98, 2000-Pro and XP-Pro. Also within this lab are Network Operation Systems (NOS) including Linux, Novell Netware, and Microsoft Server. Our students will have access to "real world" routing products by Cisco and Nortel. As an added benefit, our lab can be opened to students in the evenings and Saturdays. "

I should add that there are no Cisco routers in our classroom. The professors seems to have a disliking to Cisco and all of their products and tend to deal only with Nortel GUI-based routers/switches.

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The bolded part is the important part. A few of use were reading it over today. It simply states that the courses, mostly, will fulfill the basic requirements for the listed certifications. What we think is that if you have obtained these certifications, you already have the background and industry knowledge to exempt the course. The courses are theory courses and most of them follow the CompTIA Approved Curriculum.

What do you guys think?

If you want to see the program of study, here is the link: http://extraweb.algonquincollege.com/fulltime_programs/programOfStudy.aspx?id=0150X10FPM&

druid318

Sounds like you are in the right to me. You just need to come up with a calm logical plan to talk them into allowing the exemption. If they are reluctant maybe the instructors could do a test to make sure you already understand the material ?

dtlokee

In many colleges if you attempt to transfer credits from one college to another you will find that many of them do not transfer. I would think the same would apply here, the course you outlined does not say the goal is certification, or passing certification exams. The coursework may be what they're looking for, to determine you have met the college's required standard. You can try for an exemption, put together you argument and present it to them, but don't be surprised if they reject it.

Just my $0.02

matradley

dtlokee wrote:

In many colleges if you attempt to transfer credits from one college to another you will find that many of them do not transfer. I would think the same would apply here, the course you outlined does not say the goal is certification, or passing certification exams. The coursework may be what they're looking for, to determine you have met the college's required standard. You can try for an exemption, put together you argument and present it to them, but don't be surprised if they reject it.

Just my $0.02

The goal of the program is to produce industry capable members. I have had courses, in the past, in this program exempted because of my A+. The bold part that I had outlined just seems to be pushing the fact that they uses the certs as a basis of the program. They also seem to outline that some of the courses fulfill the requirements of other certifications - leading people to write those certs. I think some of the goal is to prepare the students to write the certs. At any rate, we will have to see.

druid318 wrote:

Sounds like you are in the right to me. You just need to come up with a calm logical plan to talk them into allowing the exemption. If they are reluctant maybe the instructors could do a test to make sure you already understand the material ?

We have to do a PLAR (Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition) and a portfolio challenge. The PLAR costs $108.45 per exemption. The PLAR is based on experience, life experience, volunteering, and etc... that you have received in life.

Here is a link to what I am talking about - http://www.algonquincollege.com/lts/plar/ .

This is a Preamble from the Directives:

"PREAMBLE
Prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR) assumes that adults may acquire
college level learning through life experience such as self-directed study, paid
employment, voluntary work, travel and other learning experiences. In order for this
learning to be credited, it must be described or demonstrated; assessed as to its nature,
extent, and depth; and deemed equivalent and current when compared to course
learning requirements or program learning outcomes.
PLAR is to be distinguished from the transfer of academic credit process, in that PLAR
focuses on the evaluation of experiential learning rather than on the determination of
equivalency of formal educational courses and/or programs. In PLAR, a College credit
is awarded; whereas in the transfer of academic credit process an exemption is
provided."