Pre-program Credits or Courses

Note: We refer to a “transfer course” as a graduate course taken outside of Boise State University. A “carry-over” course is a graduate course taken at Boise State University. The policies pertaining to each are slightly different. For the purpose of this document, we’ll refer to both Transfer and Carry-over courses (or credit hours) as “pre-program credits (PpC)”, or “prior coursework.”

Limit on total PpC

Graduate College policy allows our program to recommend up to 30 credit hours of PpC to be used toward either EdD program. Thus, if a person had completed 30 hours of course work prior to enrolling in the doctoral program, and all those credit hours are recommended by the coordinator and approved by the Dean, then the student will have 30 credit hours to complete to earn the doctorate.

Students in the EdS/EdTech program can request approval for up to 9 hours of PpC, but that expands to 30 if they then are admitted to the EdD program. Graduates of EdS in Executive Educational Leadership program at BSU can have all 30 hours applied to the EdD should they be admitted to it.

How can the PpC be used?

Previously completed credit hours can be applied to selected “Core” courses, research courses, cognate courses, and elective courses.

If you wish to use any courses from BSU or another university, please complete this separate sheet before listing them on your plan of study. The coordinator will review the courses and let you know what’s possible. Do not list courses that do not match the criteria listed under the “Guidelines & Rules” section below.

GUIDELINES & POLICIES

• Any course that a student wishes to use as a transfer credit must be consistent with the program of study planned by the student and her/his advisor and supervisory committee.

• Courses that are more than five to six years old when a student starts their program can be considered, but an extra level of review and approval is necessary. See the page about older coursework for more information.

• No undergraduate course (even upper level) will be recommended as PpC

• Any previously completed course must have a grade of B- or better.

• PpC cannot be for graduate courses that are a culminating activity or for experiential learning (ex., portfolio or thesis). Furthermore, no transfer of Comp Exam, Seminar, or Internship hours will be accepted.

• Credits earned for post-graduate work, but which are not graduate courses (ex., professional development workshops) cannot be used for transfer credit.

• Any course used in a plan of study must have been taken at an accredited institution.

• All *transfer* courses that students wish to be considered must be accompanied by an official course syllabus. If the applicable syllabi are entirely unavailable, then evidence of substantive course work can be considered. This will be evaluated as part of the review of credit hours. For carry-over courses (i.e., graduate courses completed at BSU), one does not need syllabi.

• Graduate credits earned either as part of a master’s degree, or taken as part of a graduate degree that was not completed, are eligible for transfer. Courses ineligible would be those restricted by other elements of the transfer course policy.

Who decides about the PpC?

The Research & Doctoral program coordinator is responsible for making the final decision about recommending any PpC for use in a student’s plan of study. When necessary, the coordinator will consult with the student’s research advisor to see if they are comfortable with courses a student is trying to have applied. Ultimately, the Graduate College Dean decides whether or not PpC can be applied, taking into consideration the coordinator’s recommendation.

Do I have to pay anything for my courses to be reviewed or applied to my plan of study?

• No.

How do I find a syllabus for a course that I’ve taken?

You ONLY need a syllabus (or syllabi) for graduate courses taken outside of Boise State University. If you took the course at BSU, no syllabus is necessary. For courses where you’ve not kept (or cannot find) the syllabus, you have a couple of options.

(1) Use a search engine to see if you can find an older copy still around.

(2) Use the “WayBack Machine” to see if it’s archived in some corner of the internet.

(3) Reach out to one or more classmates to see if they’ve retained a copy; use LinkedIn or Facebook to find them.

(4) Reach out to the faculty member who taught the course (if they are still employed at the University/College where you took it).

(5) Reach out to someone in the department and/or program area where you took the course to see if they have an archive.

Even if the only thing that can be provided is a syllabus that is “younger” than the course you took, we might still be able to use it if the course has not undergone significant changes. We cannot endorse for transfer any course (old or new) that is not accompanied by at least that part of the transcript that describes work requirements and grading

Additional Considerations (for EdD/EdTech)

• All students enrolling in the EdD/EdTech  program will have to take EDTECH 601: Intro to Doctoral Studies. Both cognate and elective requirements can be replaced by previous EDTECH courses (or other approved courses taken at Boise State) that are in keeping with the general policies detailed below.

• For the Ed.D. student seeking the Ed.S., we see two scenarios: 1) The student cannot complete the dissertation (for whatever reason), and her or his committee recommends the Ed.S. as a degree option. 2) The student wishes to earn the Ed.S. while earning the Ed.D.

• In Scenario 1, the student has to formally apply to the Ed.S. program when asked to do so by the doctoral program coordination team. All credits taken toward the Ed.D. (except EDTECH 691 or EDTECH 693) can be applied to the Ed.S. The student must at least complete the Ed.S. capstone course before being awarded the degree. At the completion of the Ed.S., the student will not be admitted to a future Ed.D. cohort.

• In Scenario 2, the student must apply to the Ed.S. program BEFORE the end of her or his first year of studies. The student should be on schedule to complete all Ed.S. cognate and elective courses by the end of his or her second year in the Ed.D. program. Finally, the student must complete the Ed.S. capstone course (which will not count toward the doctorate) in order to earn the Ed.S. In this scenario, the final Ed.S. project must be completed before a student attempts to complete the doctoral comprehensive examination (EDTECH 691)

Additional Considerations (for EdS/EdTech)

Courses taken in BSU’s Educational Technology program can be applied to the Ed.S. program, with the understanding that:

• • The culminating activity for the Ed.S. cannot be replaced by any course already taken in any other program

  • At least 1/2 of the EdS credits must be earned after the student applies to it

  • Credits earned as part of a *completed* master’s degree can only be applied to the EdS program on a case-by-case basis (EDTECH is seeking a program-specific exemption to this policy).

  • At least 15 credit hours of all courses used toward the Ed.S. (not including the culminating activity) must be courses offered by the Department of Educational Technology (EDTECH)

  • All regular course credits earned in the EdS program CAN be used toward the EdD program should a student be admitted to it (the only course that does not carry-over is the capstone course, EDTECH 680)