American Sign Language (ASL)

ASLU: Registration Information
Also see ► "registration letter"

First of all, if you don't need a grade or documentation then you do not need to register nor pay to use this website. Most students simply use this site as a free support for a class they are taking at their local school or as a way to self-study at home.
Registration costs money and is only for those who need documentation to provide to their employer, college, school district, or other organization to prove that they have successfully completed a sign language course or to satisfy a foreign language requirement.

ASLU provides continuing education units. That is not the same as college credit. We do not award college credit. Your local school may award credit for your participation in this program. Many have. Check with your local college or high school to determine if they will accept your work in this program for credit. Get it in writing. The ASLU transcript provides letter-grades based on test scores and completed assignments.

Whether or not you can use this private course at your local college depends on your local school. Your best bet is to talk to an advisor at your local college. He or she can help you consider various ways to get credit at your local school such as signing up for independent study at the local college and then using the ASLU course as the topic of your independent study.

What do you get if you register for the ASLU Level 1 (or Level 2) ASL course?
You get access to a qualified instructor to whom you can ask your various ASL-related questions, a syllabus explaining the course requirements, access to a series of quizzes based on the lessons, access to the receptive final exam, feedback on your final exam, evaluation of your expressive video project, and full documentation of your participation in the program including a letter grade. (Your syllabus will cover what your assignments are and how to do them, but in general as of this writing the assignments include: 15 lesson quizzes, 3 unit quizzes, an ASL or Deaf Culture related research paper, a receptive final, and a video project ).

If you feel you would like to register you should go to the registration letter and read it carefully.

If you have questions after reading the registration letter, please read through the Frequently Asked Questions pages. Also, read my response to a student's question's below.

-- Dr. Bill
(William G. Vicars, EdD)

<<In a message dated 8/15/2003 10:40:36 PM Central Daylight Time, thompsonrebirth@ writes:
If I take the free lessons how much is the certificate of completion? How much does it cost if I decide to register? Do the registered classes cover more info than the free ones. How long does it take to complete the lessons and obtain the certificate? >>

Reply: Let's do those one at a time:

Question 1: "If I take the free lessons how much is the certificate of completion?"

Answer: I don't give certificates of completion to students who take the free lessons. (If I said that somewhere on this site, please let me know where so I can update that information.) Lots and lots of people self-study from this website (tens of thousands--according to the web statistics). I simply don't have time to evaluate each one on a personal basis.
So, I only provide documentation to registered, tuition-paying students whom have demonstrated to me through actual testing that they have achieved a level of competency similar to that of the college-level courses I teach during my day-job as a college professor.

Question 2: How much does it cost if I decide to register?

Answer: Tuition per course is $483.
At the end of the course you will need to a blank disk (CD, DVD, or server upload (youtube.com etc.),--I can still do VHS but NOT 8mm), and then record your expressive video project and pay the postage to mail it to me, (or upload it to a server).
There are no other fees. The price above includes the coursepack for your level.

Question 3: Do the registered classes cover more info than the free ones.

Answer: The same amount of information is "covered" but registered students have to take in-depth quizzes based on special videos. Additionally we will evaluate your expressive-project video, your receptive final, and your research paper. We verify your completion of the quizzes. Plus you get documentation of your results, (a transcript) including a letter grade.

Question 4: How long does it take to complete the lessons and obtain the documentation?

Answer: That is up to you. Most students seem to like to do two or three lessons per week and finish a course in about two months. Officially, I allow one semester (four months) to complete a course. If you need more time, that can be arranged by agreement.
If you were in a hurry, you could complete a course in about a month by doing a lesson per day plus a couple days for submitting your expressive video. If you have no other classes and are able to work on it "full time" you could do two or three lessons a day and get done in two weeks, but I've never had anyone attempt that. (According to the syllabus you have to pass the final at 70% or better, so make sure you actually take the time to absorb what you are studying.) My recommendation is that you do at least one lesson a week. This is based on the fact that my regular college students typically do 15 lessons in 15 weeks (first semester) for Level 1, and then 15 more lessons in another 15 weeks (second semester) for level 2. Note: You can progress at whatever pace you would like for up to a semester. The way it generally works is a student keeps in touch with me or his assigned faculty mentor at least once a week to be considered progressing. Three weeks without communication may result in the student being dropped from the program. Once a week the student needs to complete a receptive quiz. (Receptive quizzes are where you look at signing...sort of like being the listener in a spoken conversation.) Near the end of each course level the student turns in a research paper. Once during the course the student makes a video of his or her signing of a script provided by ASLU. The video doesn't have to be fancy. I don't care about the background as long as I can see your signs and your facial expressions clearly.

Question 5: So, you don't give credit, you just give me a letter from you that says I took your course and I received a certain grade. Why should I register?

Answer: If you don't need that piece of paper, you shouldn't register. The paper is only valuable because my signature is on it and many local colleges, high schools, and companies will accept my documentation because I hold an earned doctorate in this field from an accredited university and I've been teaching college ASL for 20 years. One way to think of it is that I and/or one of my faculty function as an "extension" instructor for whatever school you are attending locally.

Question 6: What kind of study materials are used?

Answer: The website is used as the "text" for the courses. Each course (level) consists of 15 lessons, 15 quizzes, 3 unit tests, a research paper, an expressive video project, and a receptive final. The video quizzes are provided via links to streaming videos that download to your computer's internet browser. A "unit" covers 5 lessons. The Unit 1 test corresponds to the first five lessons of the level 1 course. The quiz questions are based on the vocabulary and practice sheets from the lessons online at Lifeprint.com. Each week you should do at least one quiz or assignment to be considered progressing.

Click here to go to the registration letter ►

ASLU: Registration Information Also see ► "registration letter"

ASLU: Registration Information
Also see ► "registration letter"