Student Experiences at Western Governors University (WGU)

milieu

fendral wrote: »

And on the same thread as DPG, does anyone have information on the new java courses? (specifically the KFT1 replacement) still waiting on my program change to go through for that and the Linux+

All I know is that my mentor said they would replace KFT1 with 2 newly numbered courses. One would involve a project/task (i.e., a taskstream evaluation) but it would not involve any partners. The other course would involve a WGU exam. I would be allowed to opt-in to the new changes, or I could continue with KFT1.

While we're on the topic, it sounds like the Java certification will be updated in July to be Java 7, not Java 6.

Bundiman

anyone know if taskstream grades task on weekends?

Ivanjam

KET1 is being replaced by 2 courses: "Project in Introduction to Programming" - TXP1 (project - 2CU) and "Introduction to Programming" - TXC1 (exam - 2CU). Similarly, KFT1 will be replaced by "Project in Introduction to Object-Oriented Design and Development" - TYP1 (project - 2CU) and "Introduction to Object-Oriented Design and Development" - TYC1 (exam - 2CU).

Hypntick

Bundiman wrote: »

anyone know if taskstream grades task on weekends?

They do, i've had them grade stuff at like 5 am on a Sunday.

demonfurbie

welp one more class done ... two months in and im about a quarter done

Rivka

Sometimes, they do. I did not take IT, but sometimes grades would come in on Saturday or Sunday. It depends when their staff works - could be from home. So keep checking.

SteveLord

What is the math like? Least favorite subject and I got through HS 11 years ago by taking the 2 easiest/minimum courses. I would be extremely rusty and nervous about self teaching myself anything.

Haunt

For those of you with little to no programming experience, what was it like taking CUV1 Web Technologies? Did you guys have a hard time with it or was it fairly simple? How is the learning resource for this class? Any good? Any other outside resources you guys recommend? How long did it take you to complete this class? Did you go through the whole learning resource (it's pretty long, like 34 sections) or did you only concentrate on certain parts?

I'm starting this class and I'm not sure what to expect as I have no experience with programming or HTML so I'm a little intimidated. I'm also not too thrilled about the learning resource being an e-text. I find it harder to learn than if it were hands-on video tutorials like LabSim.

TLeTourneau

SteveLord, I was in the same situation (except HS was a much longer time ago for me). The math isn't that bad, I obsessed over it and it ended up being less difficult than I made it out to be over all. The only exception for me was the geometry proof, I REALLY did not enjoy that.

Psoasman

@haunt - the CUV1 isn't too difficult. The CIW prep materials are all you need for the course. The course mentor, David Kidd, put together a video telling what to focus on. I actually went through all the labs in the course and that helps as each exam will test on different areas. I took about 5 weeks to go through this one.

Nemowolf

Haunt wrote: »

For those of you with little to no programming experience, what was it like taking CUV1 Web Technologies? Did you guys have a hard time with it or was it fairly simple? How is the learning resource for this class? Any good? Any other outside resources you guys recommend? How long did it take you to complete this class? Did you go through the whole learning resource (it's pretty long, like 34 sections) or did you only concentrate on certain parts?

I'm starting this class and I'm not sure what to expect as I have no experience with programming or HTML so I'm a little intimidated. I'm also not too thrilled about the learning resource being an e-text. I find it harder to learn than if it were hands-on video tutorials like LabSim.

Psoasman wrote: »

@haunt - the CUV1 isn't too difficult. The CIW prep materials are all you need for the course. The course mentor, David Kidd, put together a video telling what to focus on. I actually went through all the labs in the course and that helps as each exam will test on different areas. I took about 5 weeks to go through this one.

I am about to start on this class myself, hoping to finish up the Windows OS class (DHV1) this week. Good to know that its going to take some time but should be straight forward.

Hypntick

FYT2 is done. Capstone and G2700 left, will start on the capstone tomorrow, hope to finish it up in 2 weeks. Even though i'm in the home stretch, motivation is starting to drop. Been going at all of this for so long now that i'm just ready to be done so I can move on to something more interesting.

Cold Titanium

Finally made it past KFT1! I followed some advice that I read here. Don't over-think task 4, just design it to the rubric. You have to implement several things in the program that are never used. I felt like I was being forced to write sloppy code because of the requirements. Passed on first try, all 4's minus one 3.

PurpleIT

Haunt wrote: »

For those of you with little to no programming experience, what was it like taking CUV1 Web Technologies? Did you guys have a hard time with it or was it fairly simple? How is the learning resource for this class? Any good? Any other outside resources you guys recommend? How long did it take you to complete this class? Did you go through the whole learning resource (it's pretty long, like 34 sections) or did you only concentrate on certain parts?

IIRC, there wasn't really much on the exam from anything after Chapter 16... maybe a couple of questions at most. I really just skimmed the second half of the class as I have zero interest in it and a lot of the info is old. As others have said, the CIW material is all you need. I am not a big fan of the CIW courses, they are essentially 100-level survey classes, but they do a very good job providing you with what you need to know unlike the MTAs.

CenturionMario

Hello, I took CVV1 (MTA Database Fundamentals) today and failed (scored a 5. I read the book, studied Ucertify, did the practice exams, studied my notes, and labbing. I know what areas I need to improve on, although I'm still disappointed in failing the exam. Does anyone here have advice on passing CVV1?

Haunt

Nemowolf wrote: »

I am about to start on this class myself, hoping to finish up the Windows OS class (DHV1) this week. Good to know that its going to take some time but should be straight forward.

I found a website called Codeacademy that has lessons and tutorials on learning basic HTML for those with little to no experience. I've been working through it and it's been very helpful.

DPG

Passed AIV1 today (Exam 70-642: Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuring). Next up is AHV1 (Exam 70-640: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuring)

kgb

CenturionMario wrote: »

Hello, I took CVV1 (MTA Database Fundamentals) today and failed (scored a 5. I read the book, studied Ucertify, did the practice exams, studied my notes, and labbing. I know what areas I need to improve on, although I'm still disappointed in failing the exam. Does anyone here have advice on passing CVV1?

MTA = MeasureUP. For every single MTA I took @ WGU, I spent the ~$35 on the 30-day online usage of MeasureUP. Was worth it to me as there's no better practice test for the MTA.

hoktauri

kgb wrote: »

MTA = MeasureUP. For every single MTA I took @ WGU, I spent the ~$35 on the 30-day online usage of MeasureUP. Was worth it to me as there's no better practice test for the MTA.

While I haven't had any experience with WGU I do have to say hell yes to this. I got free access to MeasureUp for my MTAs and they really did help a lot. Not 100% dead on of course but pretty close, any of the Microsoft supplied study materials were just about useless.

Nemowolf

DHV1 Scheduled for this Thursday and received my confirmation email from WGU. I don't know if i will have enough time to finish all 24 chapters of CUV1 in the next three weeks before my term ends but here goes nothing! Wish me luck folks!

TLeTourneau

Good luck!

I just finished QLT1 and am now done with the math classes (thank goodness). I have ORC1 scheduled for next Sunday and then on to my current bane, LAT1. I’ve been working on that little gem for over a term now, I find it very annoying… .

Hypntick

Motivation for Capstone is pretty low. Finished up about 1/2 of the prospectus part of things and I just feel totally burned out. Really need to find some level of motivation otherwise this could end up with me dragging things out longer than I need to. Having a ton of projects at work is also taking a lot out of me, got home last night at 6 and was asleep at 7:30. Unfortunately one of the projects is ongoing and won't wrap up until around October. Come on second wind!

PurpleIT

Hypntick wrote: »

Motivation for Capstone is pretty low. Finished up about 1/2 of the prospectus part of things and I just feel totally burned out. Really need to find some level of motivation otherwise this could end up with me dragging things out longer than I need to. Having a ton of projects at work is also taking a lot out of me, got home last night at 6 and was asleep at 7:30. Unfortunately one of the projects is ongoing and won't wrap up until around October. Come on second wind!

I went through that stage as well with my BS, I had to just sit down and write. Most of the time I started out writing utter crap, but after 20+ minutes my brain would kick in and I could take the rough ideas I had and start to turn them into something usable. If nothing else, I found reviewing and editing what I had written got me to think about what I need to address in a later sections and that could be used to start writing ideas which would eventually turn into something usable.

Good luck!

demonfurbie

Hypntick wrote: »

Motivation for Capstone is pretty low. Finished up about 1/2 of the prospectus part of things and I just feel totally burned out. Really need to find some level of motivation otherwise this could end up with me dragging things out longer than I need to. Having a ton of projects at work is also taking a lot out of me, got home last night at 6 and was asleep at 7:30. Unfortunately one of the projects is ongoing and won't wrap up until around October. Come on second wind!

the only way i could do my capstone for undergrad was to lock my self up for a weekend with pizza and mtn dew and do nothing but paper

i also used a program called focuswriter to help with distraction... it almost got to the point where i was thinking about getting a hotel room away to make sure it got done. I did all 30+ pages in a three day weekend

FocusWriter

a1hilde

Probably been asked before but is there any where I can find out what, if any classes that certifications can replace so I don't have to take those classes? Security+, ITIL, CEH, CISSP, GREM. Will any of those help shorten my time? Was thinking of their Masters degree for IT assurance.

Hypntick

Yeah my undergrad capstone was done in a period of 6 hours. I imagine this one shouldn't take much longer, my motivation is just dead. I would love to take this weekend and knock it out, however the ERP system at one of the clients we support is going live at one of their plants. Have to be available in case all of the prep work we've done is for nothing. Just bad timing of projects and school stuff I guess.

Nemowolf

a1hilde wrote: »

Probably been asked before but is there any where I can find out what, if any classes that certifications can replace so I don't have to take those classes? Security+, ITIL, CEH, CISSP, GREM. Will any of those help shorten my time? Was thinking of their Masters degree for IT assurance.

There are no substitutes for certification courses other than having the cert already. The only real way to make a case though is to apply and try to get through the evaluation and potentially challenge something you don't agree with.


PS: Passed DHV1 today. Updating signature!

Danielm7

Nemowolf wrote: »

There are no substitutes for certification courses other than having the cert already. The only real way to make a case though is to apply and try to get through the evaluation and potentially challenge something you don't agree with.


PS: Passed DHV1 today. Updating signature!

How is the challenge process anyway? I'm set to start on 6/1, I transferred in 3+ years of credits from 2 schools and only got 33 credits accepted. I would have had even more but my computer classes and certs were over 5 years old. I do feel like a couple of the classes that I did take should be counted towards current requirements. Is that a big deal for them to reassess the transfer credits?

Psoasman

You can always appeal an evaluation. Full degrees and certs that WGU provides transfer in very well. I had a few classes from a different college I went to transfer in. It really depends on the course, though.

33 CU's is still good though. Keep in mind that even if you still have to take the course, if you have the knowledge, that course will be much easier than if you are starting out from scratch. For example, I had to use APA format for EVERYTHING at my community college. That made it easy to knock out several papers in less than a week at WGU.

Danielm7

Psoasman wrote: »

You can always appeal an evaluation. Full degrees and certs that WGU provides transfer in very well. I had a few classes from a different college I went to transfer in. It really depends on the course, though.

33 CU's is still good though. Keep in mind that even if you still have to take the course, if you have the knowledge, that course will be much easier than if you are starting out from scratch. For example, I had to use APA format for EVERYTHING at my community college. That made it easy to knock out several papers in less than a week at WGU.

Thanks, it's only a class or two that I think should also be covered by past coursework. While I understand the option to just test out, for some of these classes I took them over 15 years ago so I'd have to relearn most of it and they really aren't topics that effect me day to day so anything I can bypass would be helpful.