Student Experiences at Western Governors University (WGU)

Thxlbx

Enrolled in my first three official classes! Told my mentor I wanted to try to get my A+ and Sec+ by the end of the year so they could be good for life, and she let take those three courses to start off with! TEV1, TTV1, and TSV1 are now my life Can't wait to get going full throttle!

erpadmin

eansdad wrote: »

I want to get a MCITP:SA even though the security track doesn't have it. I should be able to pass with little effort. Should I continue to do Gen Ed classes and take the MCITP:SA exams or should I start on some of the certs for my trak? I feel I'm being passed up for better jobs based on the fact that I have 0 certs and no degree even tough I have 13 years in the field including admin experience.

Same here, buddy. Plus, like you, I'm a NJ civil servant. Yeah I have (technically) 4 certs, but not one of them pertains to the job I do. The two certs that will have SOME weight though will be Project+ and MCITP:EA. (I can write a project plan right now...the Project+ [when I get it] just tells folks I know how to write one).

To answer your question though, I would try to do your gen eds AND study for the SA exams, if you can. Maybe your mentor can give you access to the LabSims, even though it's outside of your track. Otherwise, you might have to spring for nuggets/books. The good news is, academic pricing for MS exams are only $60, and you can deal with Prometric straight for that. Just make sure you get your WGU Student ID (I did...flimsy ID, but it works! ). Then you can get an EA later, if you want.

You got your 10 years in though, right? No sense leaving (the state's) money on the table....then instead of quiting, you can (deferred) "retire". (money you won't see until you're 55, but hey....you get what they put in too).

erpadmin

Thxlbx wrote: »

Enrolled in my first three official classes! Told my mentor I wanted to try to get my A+ and Sec+ by the end of the year so they could be good for life, and she let take those three courses to start off with! TEV1, TTV1, and TSV1 are now my life Can't wait to get going full throttle!

Gun for A+ first....in fact, if you finish TEV1 and TTV1, enroll in TNV1 and get that before Security+. Get Mike Meyers All In One for A+ and Network+ and then Darril Gibson's Get Certified Get Ahead for Sec+...you'll have your lifetime trinity then. They all build progressively.

Thxlbx

erpadmin wrote: »

Gun for A+ first....in fact, if you finish TEV1 and TTV1, enroll in TNV1 and get that before Security+. Get Mike Meyers All In One for A+ and Network+ and then Darril Gibson's Get Certified Get Ahead for Sec+...you'll have your lifetime trinity then. They all build progressively.

TNV1 is not on the Security list of courses. Is that for the Network+ cert? I am hopefully going to study for that as well on the side and try to fit it in too. Not much time, it will be hard, but I plan on hitting it as hard as I can and see how much I can get done. Thanks for the book recommendations!

eansdad

Thxlbx wrote: »

Enrolled in my first three official classes! Told my mentor I wanted to try to get my A+ and Sec+ by the end of the year so they could be good for life, and she let take those three courses to start off with! TEV1, TTV1, and TSV1 are now my life Can't wait to get going full throttle!

Not worth worrying over to make them good for life. You only have to renew the highest level cert (goes A+, Net+ then Sec+) and you can have it renewed by renewing other certs like CCNA and CCNA Security and taking classes. If you don't want to go through all that hassle then you only have to take the Sec+ again to renew the rest of them. Little extra time to get that little CE tag on your Comptia certs won't hurt anything.


Erpadmin - I've only got 7 years, there will be an opening for a Network Admin in about a year that would get me to stay here. This place has zero structure ... it is just crap piled on more crap. IT is treated like the red-headed step child no one ever wanted (no offense to our ginger headed members). Between that and our beloved Gov. this job is getting worse by the minute hence the reason I went back to school. I figured on the MCITP:SA since I had to learn server 2008 R2 for an upgrade we did and built a WDS server plus I work with AD a lot. That plus along with the 70-680 I have to take all I'd need is the 70-647 to round out the MCITP:EA. If I can't get my mentor to open up the learning resources for me I can still go to Skillport. In case anyone didn't see .. if you go to Skillport and click on catalog you get access to A LOT of videos for all sorts of certs plus a practice exam.

erpadmin

eansdad wrote: »

Erpadmin - I've only got 7 years, there will be an opening for a Network Admin in about a year that would get me to stay here. This place has zero structure ... it is just crap piled on more crap. IT is treated like the red-headed step child no one ever wanted (no offense to our ginger headed members). Between that and our beloved Gov. this job is getting worse by the minute hence the reason I went back to school. I figured on the MCITP:SA since I had to learn server 2008 R2 for an upgrade we did and built a WDS server plus I work with AD a lot. That plus along with the 70-680 I have to take all I'd need is the 70-647 to round out the MCITP:EA. If I can't get my mentor to open up the learning resources for me I can still go to Skillport. In case anyone didn't see .. if you go to Skillport and click on catalog you get access to A LOT of videos for all sorts of certs plus a practice exam.

I can totally relate. My first public service job was EXACTLY what you just described, and I had to pretty much go after 3 years in IT. Between the 3 public service jobs I had, I have 13 years in PERS (I had to buy back time before Governor FatBoy messed with that the way Corzine messed with those who were in other systems before working for a PERS Appointing Authority...now I don't have to work as long in the system, if I so wish... ).

I didn't know skillport offered videos as well! I might have to check that out...especially for CCNA as that's like a "nice-to-have" cert I would not mind having. If I, in fact, do get a finished basement set up in my house within the next year or so, a CCNA lab will be in the works (as it'll be out of the way). But that's something I'll do MUCH, MUCH down the line....maybe even in retirement. (And because of the fact that I do have cojones (CO-HO-NES), I would/will take the composite exam...IF I decide to do it.) Thanks for pointing that out though!

Thxlbx

eansdad wrote: »

Not worth worrying over to make them good for life. You only have to renew the highest level cert (goes A+, Net+ then Sec+) and you can have it renewed by renewing other certs like CCNA and CCNA Security and taking classes. If you don't want to go through all that hassle then you only have to take the Sec+ again to renew the rest of them. Little extra time to get that little CE tag on your Comptia certs won't hurt anything.
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I am using the lifetime by the end of the year as more of a motivating tool to get off to a strong start, if I have to renew the Sec+ every few years it will not be the end of the world. I am just wanting to get some certs early on so I kind find some entry level work while still at WGU, so that by the time I am done I will have some experience, plus a degreee, plus some certs, which will hopefully provide some nice employment opportunities. I want to see how much I can handle during this first term to kind of give me a bellweather as to how long it will take to get my degree done.

erpadmin

Thxlbx wrote: »

I am using the lifetime by the end of the year as more of a motivating tool to get off to a strong start, if I have to renew the Sec+ every few years it will not be the end of the world. I am just wanting to get some certs early on so I kind find some entry level work while still at WGU, so that by the time I am done I will have some experience, plus a degreee, plus some certs, which will hopefully provide some nice employment opportunities. I want to see how much I can handle during this first term to kind of give me a bellweather as to how long it will take to get my degree done.

All the more reason to put TNV1 (well, sounds like it's not part of your emphasis; yes that is Network+) into the mix, or in your case...just getting either a educational voucher and/or just taking it outright. For A+/Network+ I studied for about 2 weeks and then took both in one month. I was already in the field heavy at that point and I thought it was going to be used for MCSA electives. Wasn't in the cards at that time...

Security+ was taken through WGU and was, IMO, the easiest of the three, and in hindsight (even A+...lol and hardware is my strong suit), I was a bit disappointed about that. But with the time that you have, you should be able to get A+ and Sec+ out of the way before end of the year.....and perhaps even Network+...even if that's not part of your studies...cutting it close, but hey, welcome to IT. LMAO!

Thxlbx

Thanks for the welcome! It is good to hear that others have done these in a relatively short amount of time. Hopefully I can get going in the field quickly as well so I can put the knowledge into practice!

cashawnee

Hello everyone,

I am a Business Alumni of WGU and I wanted to post my feelings on this University.

I attended other online schools and "on-campus" classes for my Assciate degree. Then when I was ready to start my Bachelors program, i stumbled on WGU. I am soooo glad I did! It was THE best experience I have had in my education career. I received my BS in Business from there and am extremely proud to be an Alumni. I am currently working on my Security+ Certification so I can get into the Masters IT Security and Assurance program. I'm extremely excited that WGU was there to help me with my education.

They provide dozens of resources to help you get to your goals and my mentor truly cared about my education. We ended up being friends and she has been an amazing support to me!

I LOVE WGU and their whole educational program.

themagicone

Well I started HVT1 and HVC1 about week n' half ago, got pretty much done with HVT1, just need to take the test. That is next Monday so I have a week to polish up on low areas, in the mean time I got part of HVC1 done. 1 week into term and almost 6 cu's done!! Woo..

veritas_libertas

QLC1 is really beating up on me. I'm hoping I can just do well enough to pass.

On a side note, I reset my DSL modem and after turning it back on Frontier (formally Verizon Internet) claims my modem is dead Possibly one of the most painful 1.5 hours ever (dealing with customer unsupport.) I'm positive these guys don't know what they are doing. Thankfully my apartment is right across from the free Internet provided by the owners. Oh, and yes my firewall is cranked up big time...

erpadmin

veritas_libertas wrote: »

QLC1 is really beating up on me. I'm hoping I can just do well enough to pass.

On a side note, I reset my DSL modem and after turning it back on Frontier (formally Verizon Internet) claims my modem is dead Possibly one of the most painful 1.5 hours ever (dealing with customer unsupport.) I'm positive these guys don't know what they are doing. Thankfully my apartment is right across from the free Internet provided by the owners. Oh, and yes my firewall is cranked up big time...

Assuming you don't have permission, be thankful you are not in your home state or Illinois (I remember the IL story...the MI story is new to me as well the UK).

The ethics of Stealing Wifi “wifi piggybacking” : security blog

(It does amaze me though how people still don't do the basic WAP sercurity...amazes me still that the default password on them are not changed... )

Back to QLC1 though, how much time are you devoting to it? That and QLT1 are my first classes in the second term for me. Are you using the textbook(s)?

JoshD779

themagicone wrote: »

Well I started HVT1 and HVC1 about week n' half ago, got pretty much done with HVT1, just need to take the test. That is next Monday so I have a week to polish up on low areas, in the mean time I got part of HVC1 done. 1 week into term and almost 6 cu's done!! Woo..

Did you buy the books? I started those classes last week too and I was hoping to get through Humanities without purchasing the books. I'll have no troubles passing the HVT1 exam using only Mindedge (when I can actually access it), but I wasn't sure if I'd be able to complete the HVC1 tasks without at least buying the primary text.

veritas_libertas

erpadmin wrote: »

Assuming you don't have permission, be thankful you are not in your home state or Illinois (I remember the IL story...the MI story is new to me as well the UK).

The ethics of Stealing Wifi “wifi piggybacking” : security blog

(It does amaze me though how people still don't do the basic WAP sercurity...amazes me still that the default password on them are not changed... )

Back to QLC1 though, how much time are you devoting to it? That and QLT1 are my first classes in the second term for me. Are you using the textbook(s)?

The apartment provide free wi-fi to renters. I wouldn't steal WI-FI.

erpadmin

veritas_libertas wrote: »

The apartment provide free wi-fi to renters. I wouldn't steal WI-FI.

My bad.....I was only messing anyway.

I was curious though about the rest of QLC1 I asked earlier though.

themagicone

JoshD779 wrote: »

Did you buy the books? I started those classes last week too and I was hoping to get through Humanities without purchasing the books. I'll have no troubles passing the HVT1 exam using only Mindedge (when I can actually access it), but I wasn't sure if I'd be able to complete the HVC1 tasks without at least buying the primary text.

I have the books BUT I really don't want to read them lol. They have to be some of the driest reading so far at WGU. I've completed mindedge and all I have to do is get 60% on the assessment. I got 50% on a pre assessment before I started the class so I think I'll do alright on the final.

petedude

cashawnee wrote: »

Hello everyone,

I am a Business Alumni of WGU and I wanted to post my feelings on this University.

I attended other online schools and "on-campus" classes for my Assciate degree. Then when I was ready to start my Bachelors program, i stumbled on WGU. I am soooo glad I did! It was THE best experience I have had in my education career. I received my BS in Business from there and am extremely proud to be an Alumni. I am currently working on my Security+ Certification so I can get into the Masters IT Security and Assurance program. I'm extremely excited that WGU was there to help me with my education.

They provide dozens of resources to help you get to your goals and my mentor truly cared about my education. We ended up being friends and she has been an amazing support to me!

I LOVE WGU and their whole educational program.

I'd recommend posting your experiences at Online Degree Reviews Written by Students as well.

JoshD779

Does anyone else have problems with Mindedge? I can usually get in for about thirty minutes or so before the connection to the server drops. I typically have to wait another half an hour before I can get back in, then the cycle continues. It's a bit frustrating. ??:

themagicone

JoshD779 wrote: »

Does anyone else have problems with Mindedge? I can usually get in for about thirty minutes or so before the connection to the server drops. I typically have to wait another half an hour before I can get back in, then the cycle continues. It's a bit frustrating. ??:

If it's the weekend, there is nothing you can do about it. I have no problems as long as I stay away M-T 6pm to 12am and all day Fri, Sat, and Sunday. If you have lots of issues first try a different browser, Chrome or Firefox - some browsers just have issues with certain sites. If that still doesn't help, give student services a call.

Jagged

Just passed the CIW Database test (WDV1 course). The test is on par with the other CIW tests. The hard part is knowing the "theory" parts where CIW uses words and definitions that are not the same as you would find in Oracle or Microsoft learning (like table is a dirty word, they prefer relation). My SQL experience is past hands-on MS-SQL administration and college courses on Access and Oracle.

The website lists 50 questions, 75% to pass. This comes out to 37.5 needed to be correct. I rounded this up in my mind to 38, but the score report lists 74% which comes to 37 correct (can miss 13). I got 84%. My results, in order of section weight, heaviest to lightest (may vary per test):

Relational Database Fundamentals -- 83%
Structured Query Language (SQL) -- 100%
Normalization and Database Design -- 75%
Relational Algebra and Databases -- 80%
Transactions, Currency Control and Database Security -- 80%
Relational Database Design and Application -- 75%

As you can see, the SQL parts were dead simple and about a quarter of the test if you include the algebra related ones in the count. If you can grok basic SQL, then you can just use basic elimination to get the correct answer. This also works on most of the Algebra questions once you understand the symbols used. Unlike the tougher vendor tests where you could have a right answer and some not quite right ones to throw you off, there was always an obvious wrong part to all bad answers. I got one SQL question which had an answer that could be theoretically correct in some odd flavor of SQL but that question specifically said to pick the universally correct answer.

As to the theory stuff, a nice resource was posted in the WGU Database community by a student: Mastery Checklist: CIW v5 Database Design Specialist (1D0-541) by Pawilbur @ https://docs.google.com/a/wgu.edu/document/edit?id=1eMeWBiQpaLfv7_CZT2PRYsCEkxR4xJJO-yH50YXybb4&hl=en (have to be logged into WGU gmail). I never saw entities, attributes, tuples, virtual tables, etc. used in any SQL books I have read in the past, but once I knew what they mapped to it made the test easier.

For people new to SQL, the "practical" part of the test could be daunting, but once you can wrap your mind around the basics it should be no problem. On the other hand, the Oracle SQL test appears to be a whole different animal (as expected) where you actually have to turn your brain into a database server. The other half of the CIW is part rote learning, part general database theory.

Hopefully this can help out, or at least ease the pressure for those WGU students outside the NETW & NTDM tracks that need to take this test.

themagicone

Who does the scoring for taskstream? Is it dedicated people at WGU or is it actually Taskstream that is grading the work? I ask because I've turned in a few works that passed, but after I looked at them I wouldn't of, even if it was my own work. Could be a simple math error or just some common grammar errors. There is no continuity between graders ether, one may nit pick everything and not pass it - you could then just resubmit it and have it passed by another person. Just my opinion.

erpadmin

themagicone wrote: »

Who does the scoring for taskstream? Is it dedicated people at WGU or is it actually Taskstream that is grading the work? I ask because I've turned in a few works that passed, but after I looked at them I wouldn't of, even if it was my own work. Could be a simple math error or just some common grammar errors. There is no continuity between graders ether, one may nit pick everything and not pass it - you could then just resubmit it and have it passed by another person. Just my opinion.

I asked my mentor this question, as I suspected that my grading might have been done by folks outside of the US. I asked if the graders were "outsourced" as I found it odd that I'd hand something in at midnight and then have it graded by the time I either woke up or showed up in the office. (I have the taskstream emails notify my cell through a filter when I get something from them). He told me the graders were in the US. They may not originally be from the US (and I said that was ok, of course), but that they were in the US and not from that place usually associated with "outsourcing."

By design, I don't think we'll ever really know who our graders are. I'm not sure I like that if a real issue were to arise. If this were a court of law, this could very well be a Sixth Amendment issue (the right to challenge your accuser, btw... ). I believe we should have that right in WGU as well.

jmasterj206

themagicone wrote: »

Who does the scoring for taskstream? Is it dedicated people at WGU or is it actually Taskstream that is grading the work? I ask because I've turned in a few works that passed, but after I looked at them I wouldn't of, even if it was my own work. Could be a simple math error or just some common grammar errors. There is no continuity between graders ether, one may nit pick everything and not pass it - you could then just resubmit it and have it passed by another person. Just my opinion.

It is just a service that grades the papers based on the given rubrics. They are very inconsistent. I've heard stories where the people have returned in the same papers and been passed without changes. It is also how the individual graders interpret the rubrics. I have been working on LET1 and it has been a headache.

earweed

It was a really big problem for me when I did the Critical thinking course which has been replaced with CLC1. That course required multiple papers and some graders even nitpicked on your reasoning in the papaer while others only seemed to grade the formatting. This is an ongoing problem but it is something which will probably never be resolved as WGU uses this service partially for the cost benefit and that is part of what keeps our tuition low.

I just wish that WGU would eventually work out some kind of volume deal with someone like u-certify or Transcender to provide a replacement for examfarce.

petedude

earweed wrote: »

I just wish that WGU would eventually work out some kind of volume deal with someone like u-certify or Transcender to provide a replacement for examfarce.

I could gush about how wonderful uCertify has been for the CIW exams. It's almost like the Transcenders of old with the first MS exams.

jmasterj206

For those of you who have recently taken the 2 science classes how bad are they?

Chris:/*

Some of the graders are out of the US but when I asked about it I found they were US citizens working abroad. Many of mine have been very technical and precise, I am glad I have yet to have any of the problems mentioned so far.

themagicone

jmasterj206 wrote: »

For those of you who have recently taken the 2 science classes how bad are they?

Depends on how versed you are in science. It's a lot of things to cover and terms to remember. That was the hardest part for me. The task based class isn't too bad, few power points and a science project. The mentors are great. $8 Candy bar was the best.

apr911

For those in or completed GTT1... A critique to the "competency" tasks.

Granted, not being enrolled in the task stream tasks yet I can not see the example images referenced in the task (something WGU should look to add to the COS?) but, as someone who has done a fair amount of real world programming in both Java and other languages, I feel, based on what I can interpret from this task, that there are a number of programming inefficiencies that while easily overlooked by an experienced programmer may be detrimental to someone new to programming.

Namely the use of a 2 dimensional array and a nested for loop. While I understand the reasoning behind using these items (to show understanding of how they work and ostensibly used), the actual requested use of them introduce unnecessary inefficiency and complications to the program.

2 1-dimensional arrays would be better suited for the storing of 2 unlike but related values. This would introduce 2 variables which would allow each array to have a meaningful name and would then eliminate the need for a nested for loop as the information can be collected in tandem. Further complicating matters with the arrays is the fact that Java arrays cannot be dynamically resized but the task does not indicate a maximum number of inputs.

Foregoing the change to the array type, the use of a nested loop is an inefficient method to retrieve 2 pieces of data. A more efficient method would be to use a single for loop with only the 1st array's (2-d array= an array of arrays) value changing with the for loop variable while the actual data that is stored in the second array can be accessed by specifying the array value to be retrieved.

These data-structures and algorithms do have their place in both small and (especially) large programs but I feel WGU could have come up with a much better way to implement them to show understanding of their use. The goal of every application is and should be to fulfill its intended purpose in the most efficient manner possible and while the above alternative options listed do not scale well when faced with a significantly larger set of inputs, they do fulfill the requirements of the specified program in the more efficient manner.

I understand this is intended as an entry level programming course and thus is not intended to be looked at from a high level but introducing and even to some extent encouraging the use of bad programming logic to new/inexperienced programmers doesnt help them understand how to program and/or the underlying concepts.

Any one else agree?