Hello!

My name’s Amanda, and I’m 22 and a former distance learning student. After I graduated from high school (I was homeschooled) I went to a community college for 2 years and earned an AA in Liberal Arts. Then I transferred to a university and spent 2 quarters there. Then I learned about distance learning and decided to finish up my English BA that way, so I took a ton of Clep tests and a correspondence course and earned my degree through Thomas Edison State College.

Now I’m working on writing an eBook about distance learning. That’s why I’m here – for research!

Hi Amanda, and welcome!

Out of curiosity, did you get any credit by examination for tests other than CLEP?  And how did you settle on TESC (not that there's anything wrong with it, of course, just curious!)

-=Steve=- 

Hi Amanda.  I'll probably be working on a book of my own pretty soon.  That being said I'd love to get a copy when you get done.  How's the progress so far?

Hi Amanda. Welcome to the community!

What kind of research are you conducting?

Thanks for the welcome everyone!

To answer your questions…
All of the credit-by-examination tests I took were Cleps except for one – I also took the Dantes technical writing test. As for TESC, I chose that school because it’s one of the more popular independent study colleges, and because my credits lined up with what they required for my degree.

My Ebook will probably be finished within the next few weeks! It’s definitely been a fun project.

As for research, I’m trying to learn about main questions people have about distance learning in general – different ways to earn credits, what the good schools are, and things like that.

Daughter is wanting to start obtaining her degree online.  I would like to know how difficult it is? How did you find Thomas Edison State College?  Was it hard?  Did it require to much work?  I know it not an easy task...Can you give me a more background of the school...thanks

If your daughter is just starting out, and doesn't have a lot of credit already, TESC may not be the best choice -- as an assessment college they specialize in degree completion, especially for people who have credit from a lot of different sources.  What subject interests her?  How much research has she done?

-=Steve=- 

Searchertwin:

Daughter is wanting to start obtaining her degree online.  I would like to know how difficult it is? How did you find Thomas Edison State College?  Was it hard?  Did it require to much work?  I know it not an easy task...Can you give me a more background of the school...thanks

Hi Searchertwin!

I'm thinking about Steve's suggestion for your daughter... I might suggest checking out Ashford University as a place to start your search. They have a very big list of degree programs.

If just starting out, what would your daughter like to major in?  Are you looking to knock the general ed requirements out of the way first?

As for the work, I would caution her to realize that the workload for an online student is at least as much as that of a campus based student and in some cases can be more. 

I also recommend you give us specific criteria so that we can point you in the right direction.  But in answer to your question, Thomas Edison State College is a fine school. 

Or if you are interested you can check out Ashford U. as Victoria suggested, they do have a ton of undergrad options.
 

Hi Searchertwin,

I found out about TESC through the book Accelerated Distance Learning by Brad Voller. Compared to the time I spent going to college, I actually found distance learning to be easier. It saved me time to be able to study by myself without having to attend classes. I spent about two weeks studying for each CLEP test I took with an average of 4 hours per day. So figure about 20 hours of study time for each test I took.

If you want more info about my experience with accelerated distance learning, you could visit www.DistanceLearnerSite.com

And if you want more info about TESC, I’d recommend their website: www.tesc.edu.

Best of luck to your daughter!
~Amanda

A couple of people mentioned they were writing books.  Not that I'm in the habit of shilling myself on the message board, but I do work for a publishing company.  Look me up when you're done with your manuscripts!