An audit is an educational term for the completion of a course of study for which no assessment is made or grade awarded.[1] Some institutions may record a grade of “audit” to those who have elected not to receive a letter grade for a course in which they are typically awarded.
I think that all colleges and universities should open their courses to audit. It’s done in the US but I’ve only seen it done very infrequently here in the UK. One such example was the AVTIT course which I hold responsible for starting my career in IT.
AVTIT was a 12 month course at the University of Ulster. While enrolled you had 3 months to attend any class they were running, you had a project/lab room (with some oldish PCs) and you had a lecturer who would call in once a day to check things were going ok. You had a library card and 24 hour access to the lab. Lastly, and probably most importantly, it paid £100 a week (ESF funded) and the course itself was free at the point of delivery. The remaining 9 months had to be spent in a work placement where you maintained your £100 a week pay and you worked your ass off to ensure you would have a job at the end of it.
There were 10 people on the course, all graduates with disciples in other areas, who all managed to train themselves to a standard required by the IT industry. Some tutored themselves in Delphi or Visual Basic, others (like me) immersed themselves in the internet and networking. I spent 3 months learning how to plug computers together. Then I spent 9 months in Nortel taking on responsibility until they couldn’t afford to get rid of me.
Now, the need is greater than ever for people who are skilled in Information Technology. I proposed in 2011 the idea of a computer programming “Free School” which has morphed into delivering Coder Doja and 3D Dojo.
Are there any colleges or universities that permit Audit?