Student Experiences at Western Governors University (WGU)

petedude

earweed wrote: »

Yeah....
70-643 has kicked my butt so bad and now I can't get my retake scheduled til the 30th due to no seats available anywhere. I'm ready to do it NOW and can't take it for nearly 2 more weeks.

Got any relatives out of state you could visit?

earweed

Yeah, there's a test center in Atlanta I could use but the problem is getting time off work to go. It's even open on Saturday and sunday but have to work 6 nights a week. Just gonna suck it up and take it the 30th.
Good news is I can get my TWA1 paper completed in the meantime. It's almost ready for submission but I haven't touched it in weeks. TWA1 is probably the easiest class that you have to do a paper for you'll ever have.

Excellent1

themagicone wrote: »

Who has taken SSC1 and SST1? I started Monday on SSC1 and it seems pretty easy, just again a lot of info to cover. I really don't agree with that is only worth 1 CU. SST1 is two 5 to 7 page essays. HVT1 was worth 3 and was less work than that, SST1 is only worth 2. Their CU assignment is a joke.

Yeah, the CU rating given to the different courses is certainly skewed. I took CLC1 after taking the pre-assessment and I passed it without studying anything other than clicking through the Mindedge resource for 15 minutes while waiting on the OLP test to start. 3 CU's for less than an hour's work (including the pre-assessment time and the time waiting on the OLP).

On the other hand, LAT1 was 2 CU's and that was 5 different Taskstream submissions, some of them multiple items. I guess it all balances out in the end.

RoadwarriorsLive

apr911 wrote: »

Anyone have any experience asking their mentors for learning resources for courses they dont need?

I got access to the CCNA course from my mentor. They transfered in Network + as credit for it but I want to take it anyway. Since its part of my program she said it wasnt a problem.

RoadwarriorsLive

themagicone wrote: »

Who has taken SSC1 and SST1? I started Monday on SSC1 and it seems pretty easy, just again a lot of info to cover. I really don't agree with that is only worth 1 CU. SST1 is two 5 to 7 page essays. HVT1 was worth 3 and was less work than that, SST1 is only worth 2. Their CU assignment is a joke.

I just finished those last month and your right. I think its the most reading and writing I ever did for 3 CU's. It another mile wide course thats a 1/2 inch deep. The CU's for it seemed way out of whack.

The papers flow pretty easy and it fills itself when you go through the stuff they want in taskstream. I kept my answers short and had no problem hitting the required amount.

There are a couple good presentations in the community for what they are looking for in the tasks. Course mentors are really good at getting back to you if your stuck on a concept and have no problem jumping on the phone with you.

I jumped around in that course on the the things I didnt know. I got a 69 on the pre-assessment and ended up with 85 on the final after studying the ones I just guessed at.

RoadwarriorsLive

earweed wrote: »

TWA1 is probably the easiest class that you have to do a paper for you'll ever have.

Why do you say that? I am a litttle worried about that paper and tying it to my capstone.

earweed

RoadwarriorsLive wrote: »

Why do you say that? I am a litttle worried about that paper and tying it to my capstone.

What you do is get hold of the course mentor when you begin to do it. The TWA1 paper is a project proposal and the Capstone is just a presentation paper for your project. You can even use a project you did at work.
Since I don't have a "real" IT job outside of my PC Repair business I had a friend with a small office and I convinced him he needed SBS server and hooked it up and configured for cheap. I got my project (not much $$ for doing it)
You don't have all the prerequisite steps of the draft paper and all (actually the course mentor wants you to send it to him first so he can check it)

eansdad

Anyone having problems with their mentor not adding classes when asked? I have 2 OLPs set for Sun and QLT1 to finish up with 4 1/2 months left to my term. On Mon he opened up the course material for TTV1, TEV1 and TPV1 but hasn't added the classes to my AAV. Maybe I'm just in a rush but I want to get my exam dates set since it can take weeks sometimes here.

earweed

Call or email your mentor. They are usually good about adding classes. He may just be waiting for you to complete the classes you are doing now.

Excellent1

eansdad wrote: »

Anyone having problems with their mentor not adding classes when asked? I have 2 OLPs set for Sun and QLT1 to finish up with 4 1/2 months left to my term. On Mon he opened up the course material for TTV1, TEV1 and TPV1 but hasn't added the classes to my AAV. Maybe I'm just in a rush but I want to get my exam dates set since it can take weeks sometimes here.

I've seen some delays on this issue, as well. From the time I request until I see it pop up in my AAV, it's usually around 2 days. Sometimes I've had to send reminder emails to get this done.

On a related note, they are working on updating the portal to something much more functional than what it currently is. They're trying to get ALL of the resources linked directly to the portal, as well as improve the problem they are having with it. For example, yesterday my mention mentioned that she had to have the IT department manually add some courses to one student's AAV because the system wouldn't take the changes she was making. I don't know how prevalent this is, but I do know from speaking with my mentor that most of the staff is pushing for major portal changes.

We'll see what happens. I think most of the issues are just from swamped mentors, though. Just my feel, based on some things I've heard and experienced while going through the system here.

erpadmin

Excellent1 wrote: »

I've seen some delays on this issue, as well. From the time I request until I see it pop up in my AAV, it's usually around 2 days. Sometimes I've had to send reminder emails to get this done.

On a related note, they are working on updating the portal to something much more functional than what it currently is. They're trying to get ALL of the resources linked directly to the portal, as well as improve the problem they are having with it. For example, yesterday my mention mentioned that she had to have the IT department manually add some courses to one student's AAV because the system wouldn't take the changes she was making. I don't know how prevalent this is, but I do know from speaking with my mentor that most of the staff is pushing for major portal changes.

We'll see what happens. I think most of the issues are just from swamped mentors, though. Just my feel, based on some things I've heard and experienced while going through the system here.

I can confirm this...my mentor also explained to me that they're trying to make the portal "user-friendly" for both mentors and students and are shooting for February to get everything up and ready (my guess is President's Day weekend). We are going through something similar at my own job.

On a different note, due to some personal issues I have been dealing with (dealing with rebuilding my house after an electrical fire on top of work...that's why I've been a bit absent from TE), I have decided to not take on any more CUs until the next term. December is the 5th month of my term and unless I can find time to get 70-642 (AIV1) in, it's looking like I'll be dealing with that and my other MS exams next term (when it begins on 2/1). My weekly phone calls with my mentor used to be 30-40 minutes...now it's about 10-25...the good news is I only have three GE classes to take (the dreaded math and science) and then the rest is all IT and NDM emphasis...

To answer Vertias' question...I've been feeling more than blah, but not because of WGU. With everything that's been going on, I even used that useless WGUConnect garbage (WGU's EAP or I guess Student Assistance Program). It was the biggest waste of energy I've ever done. Talking to some kid who hasn't even gone through puberty about the problems I've been having since my fire. Then on top of that, they don't like keeping appointments, and when they do call you back, they make it sound like it was your fault. With the holidays coming, too, I have to go to Brooklyn to see wifey's family, so nothing is getting done this week...this will be the shortest of short weeks.

So, unless I can do something that's equivalent to a Hail Mary pass for AIV, it's looking like I'll be ending my first term with 22 CUs.

earweed

Cool about ending your term on a good note (sort of, you made 12+ CUs). You'll be getting a free WGU USB Pendrive.
They didn't give us anything for ending our first term successfully. I'm gonna ask my mentor if they give us anything but our diploma when we graduate. A free coffee mug would even be nice.

eansdad

earweed wrote: »

Cool about ending your term on a good note (sort of, you made 12+ CUs). You'll be getting a free WGU USB Pendrive.
They didn't give us anything for ending our first term successfully. I'm gonna ask my mentor if they give us anything but our diploma when we graduate. A free coffee mug would even be nice.

I got a coffee cup with my welcome kit.....does that count....lol

earweed

I got a sticker with mine...lol
2 years ago they weren't handing out swag to new students.

jmasterj206

Hope you can get everything squared away erpadmin. Life stuff is much more important than school.

I have also reached the blah point. I have the 2 science classes (int1, inc1) to finish by December and I am having a hard time getting motivated to do them and I am quickly running out of time.

erpadmin

earweed wrote: »

Cool about ending your term on a good note (sort of, you made 12+ CUs). You'll be getting a free WGU USB Pendrive.
They didn't give us anything for ending our first term successfully. I'm gonna ask my mentor if they give us anything but our diploma when we graduate. A free coffee mug would even be nice.

I would love the USB pen drive...my WGU swag (which, btw, is not "free....") is really nice. I do enjoy my coffee mug.

Seriously, I don't see why they can't hook you up with the welcome kit. I'm sure they have a bunch laying around...hit your mentor up for it.

earweed

Already did!
I'm also not one of these blazing "young whipper-snappers"..lol who will get through their degree in a year. I'm taking 2-1/2 years and all I had to do were my business, english and IT courses (all the other GE was done) so WGU made some money off me.
Got my TWA1 paper back. I have to do revisions, a few (actually a bunch) of grammatical errors but those are easy to fix.

On a side note: anyone who fails a test twice WGU charges your account the $60 for your retake and sends you a voucher number.

erpadmin

jmasterj206 wrote: »

Hope you can get everything squared away erpadmin. Life stuff is much more important than school.

I have also reached the blah point. I have the 2 science classes (int1, inc1) to finish by December and I am having a hard time getting motivated to do them and I am quickly running out of time.

I trust you can and will push forward with those. I remember LAT1 almost had me freaked out with the amount of crap, so I trust the math will be much worst for me. I'm fortunate that I don't have to deal with INT1 until February, as well as both maths. That's going to fun....

By that time, I should be able to get those over with. I've been going through "life" since I left my parents' home 14 years ago. This was just one thing that was really beyond me. The Interwebs have really helped me out though, as well as my colleagues and friends. The thing I have to keep in mind is that I'm "almost" done...as long as I can continue to keep that in mind, I will hopefully be ok, and trust you and others will do the same. I am just fortunate that I didn't have a multitude of classes when the fire happened, just CLC1, but it was such a joke, I just said "f" it, and just did what I had to do. But trying to do a MS cert is difficult (right now) and I thankfully, I did not enroll in AIV1...otherwise I'd be really freaking out.

erpadmin

earweed wrote: »

Already did!
I'm also not one of these blazing "young whipper-snappers"..lol who will get through their degree in a year. I'm taking 2-1/2 years and all I had to do were my business, english and IT courses (all the other GE was done) so WGU made some money off me.
Got my TWA1 paper back. I have to do revisions, a few (actually a bunch) of grammatical errors but those are easy to fix.

On a side note: anyone who fails a test twice WGU charges your account the $60 for your retake and sends you a voucher number.

It's not a race, EW. The main thing is you did it (just about). But that's actually all the more reason why they should give you your deserved swag...

I'm hoping my funk is over so that I can get back to whipper-snappering, but I'll see how the next few weeks go. But I'll tell you what, I'm in my thirties, and it's not as easy as it was 10 years ago....starting to feel my age now. LOL.

eansdad

Erp you'll be surprised how fast you'll get QLC1, QLT1, ORC1 and MGC1 done. Even though I'm dragging my feet on QLT1 it isn't that bad. Finished ORC1 and MGC1 today and if I can do it you can do it. Just concentrate on the MCITP:EA stuff for now since that is where the real studying needs to be and worry about smaller gen-ed stuff for the start of next semester. I'm leaving 12 CUs worth of gen-ed just so I can guarantee myself the 12 CUs, blast them out then spend the rest of the time on the CCNA stuff since I want as much time as I can get with it. Just remember why you started at WGU and what you hope to accomplish that should help you get motivated.

erpadmin

eansdad wrote: »

Erp you'll be surprised how fast you'll get QLC1, QLT1, ORC1 and MGC1 done. Even though I'm dragging my feet on QLT1 it isn't that bad. Finished ORC1 and MGC1 today and if I can do it you can do it. Just concentrate on the MCITP:EA stuff for now since that is where the real studying needs to be and worry about smaller gen-ed stuff for the start of next semester. I'm leaving 12 CUs worth of gen-ed just so I can guarantee myself the 12 CUs, blast them out then spend the rest of the time on the CCNA stuff since I want as much time as I can get with it. Just remember why you started at WGU and what you hope to accomplish that should help you get motivated.

I only have three gen-eds left. I plan on knocking those out the beginning of next term (especially since I love math...lol). You are right though about the EA stuff....I'm hoping that I can get that done before the end of the next term and then kill off the rest of the major. From what I read about ORC1 and MGC1, that should be quite cake (cupcake even). If I was really CU hungry, I could have done Project+ before the end of this year, but I can wait on that.

But I really want to do one MS exam. It's 51/49 against me that I may not do 642 before year's end like I wanted (there is a good chance, but not sure).

I came into WGU knowing that some bullcrap was going to occur...just didn't know what or when, but some bullcrap (story of my life and everyone else...lol). My plan then is my plan now...deal with it for x amount of time, and then move on to finish WGU in the frame of time I wanted to...by 2012 or sooner.

Jagged

earweed wrote:

On a side note: anyone who fails a test twice WGU charges your account the $60 for your retake and sends you a voucher number.

Note that $60 only applies officially to WGU tests. Third-party tests are at their discount voucher rate. For ones like Microsoft it can also be $60, but like in the case of Oracle that are retail at $195, the third try will be $120.

eansdad

erpadmin wrote: »

I only have three gen-eds left. I plan on knocking those out the beginning of next term (especially since I love math...lol). You are right though about the EA stuff....I'm hoping that I can get that done before the end of the next term and then kill off the rest of the major. From what I read about ORC1 and MGC1, that should be quite cake (cupcake even). If I was really CU hungry, I could have done Project+ before the end of this year, but I can wait on that.

But I really want to do one MS exam. It's 51/49 against me that I may not do 642 before year's end like I wanted (there is a good chance, but not sure).

I came into WGU knowing that some bullcrap was going to occur...just didn't know what or when, but some bullcrap (story of my life and everyone else...lol). My plan then is my plan now...deal with it for x amount of time, and then move on to finish WGU in the frame of time I wanted to...by 2012 or sooner.

Like Forrest said "It happens"...As long as you are on your schedule then everything is fine. If ya need I can take a drive up North and give ya a kick if you want. I'm glad you think Project+ is so easy. I started reading the book and feel asleep after 3 pages...ADD and boring don't work well.

Something I did to help keep me on track was make a list of the classes I have left including this term. Seperated out classes by type (English, Math, Managment, Web, Programming..etc) then classified them by test type (Exam, Objective or Performance). Then I made groups based on what I felt I could finish before term ends then next term and went until the classes were finished. This gives me a map of what my goals are as far as school goes and keeps everything together (like WSV1, WDV1, AKV1 and GTT1 for web and programming and BGV1 and BLV1 for CCNA and CCNA:Security). This way classes that can help other classes get grouped together and will help me clear half the degree in the 1st 6 months while giving me enough time to focus on things I don't know as well. Sometimes it is just good to see the plan instead of trying to remember it.

Anyways stay on tract and good luck with the MCITP:EA exams.

erpadmin

eansdad wrote: »

Like Forrest said "It happens"...As long as you are on your schedule then everything is fine. If ya need I can take a drive up North and give ya a kick if you want. I'm glad you think Project+ is so easy. I started reading the book and feel asleep after 3 pages...ADD and boring don't work well.

Something I did to help keep me on track was make a list of the classes I have left including this term. Seperated out classes by type (English, Math, Managment, Web, Programming..etc) then classified them by test type (Exam, Objective or Performance). Then I made groups based on what I felt I could finish before term ends then next term and went until the classes were finished. This gives me a map of what my goals are as far as school goes and keeps everything together (like WSV1, WDV1, AKV1 and GTT1 for web and programming and BGV1 and BLV1 for CCNA and CCNA:Security). This way classes that can help other classes get grouped together and will help me clear half the degree in the 1st 6 months while giving me enough time to focus on things I don't know as well. Sometimes it is just good to see the plan instead of trying to remember it.

Anyways stay on tract and good luck with the MCITP:EA exams.

I made a similar spreadsheet a few weeks back. If I was able to do 3 classes a month next term, I'd be able to graduate. The drawback to that plan though would be the EA certs...those really are make or break (I plan on making... ).

If I find myself needing that kick, you'll be the first one I let know...lol. +1 for that.


I can see how and why Project Management is boring, as I too came from a desktop support role. If you ever get involved in big time projects, for example implementing Exchange, then a PM methodology has to be used.

Lets say you have some legacy mail system that you want changed to Exchange. Ok, that's a project right there. Within that project you have a bunch of "tasks" that have to completed. Before any of that is even done though, you have to first identify the team, then you need executive sponsors (they usually "drive" the project). You then have to do some analysis. For example, are you going to migrate those email addresses to Exchange? Or will it just be a new implementation? What happens to the old email? Will it be archived? For how long? Etc., etc. Then you get into starting the project with the tasks at hand by those who are on the team, then they perform the tasks, and every now and then something comes up ("scope creep"). All the project manager does is make sure the project is still on time, in budget and within "scope" and will check with the members to see how stuff is and make sure there aren't "showstoppers".

I'd go on and on, but then I'd really put you to sleep.

You will see project management used in big time implementations, office moves, just about anything MAJOR that needs to be done. A project manager doesn't even need to be technical....he/she just has to know how to keep stuff in budget, on time, and in scope.

What I would suggest when you start Project+, is to base your project on something technical (it can be ANYTHING, but it will stick more for technical). Then as you go on learning, create your tasks etc based on a project you would want to do. That won't only serve as a good way to pass Project+, but you might try to sell your project to your boss with you running that Project. That is one way for homework to pay off.

eansdad

Funny you should mention that since we have been trying for years to switch to Exchange from ever so great IMail from IPSwitch. Maybe I can use this as an excuse to study for the 70-662 and 70-663. Thanks for the tip for Project+.

demonfurbie

eansdad wrote: »

Funny you should mention that since we have been trying for years to switch to Exchange from ever so great IMail from IPSwitch. Maybe I can use this as an excuse to study for the 70-662 and 70-663. Thanks for the tip for Project+.

i just passed project+

when i was reading/studing i said ill prob forget the details after the test but i could see me using the outline on major IT projects

themagicone

Working on SSC1, SST1 myself. Not looking forward to Project+ myself. Finally put a signature in like everyone else.

RoadwarriorsLive

erpadmin wrote: »

So, unless I can do something that's equivalent to a Hail Mary pass for AIV, it's looking like I'll be ending my first term with 22 CUs.

22 Is great. You finished almost a year in 6 months. Just dont let all the stuff get you down. I know easier said than done. But you need to vent we are around.

sthompson86

*Question* - For you guys who work full time and go to WGU how much time a day and per week do you all spend in your studies?

earweed

sthompson86 wrote: »

*Question* - For you guys who work full time and go to WGU how much time a day and per week do you all spend in your studies?

2 or 3 hours. More on weekends unless I'm working that weekend.