WGU/Online College resources?

nxsteven

I see a lot of members here attend WGU or similar online universities. And I see a lot of members have had a TON of success in completing their degree at a very fast pace.

What resources would you recommend to others that helped you get things completed in a timely and efficient fashion? Any and all tips would be useful. Here are a few I'd recommend, some are obvious:

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. - For visual examples and learning.
Google - Aside from the search engine, great Calender and Docs features. Lots of online courses recommend/require Google Docs. Probably will give Google Drive a shot shortly.
Son of Citation Machine - Input the information it requests and it cites it correctly for you.
Zamzar - convert document, eBook, image, audio and video - free online file conversion - Extract audio/video from websites. Great for throwing in on your MP3/smartphone for later use.


Multiple Monitors - Literally, two or more monitors is a GREAT way to get stuff done. I'm not sure I could ever go back to a single monitor at this point.
Win 7 Sticky Notes - Great way to take notes quickly and they auto-save.
Mobile + Windows App "Evernote" - "Cloud" sync option is excellent. No more emailing myself notes. I have an entire note dedicated to IT recruiters who leave me VM's so I can get back to them at a later time. Update notes with directions, random cool websites I come across, etc. And you can run a desktop application along side it to sync it with your mobile device.

breannaall

Awesome! This is helpful to beginners.

Valsacar

I think how you approach it is important too. I go straight to the tasks or assessments and see what they are, if I'm comfortable with it (which means I've done that type of work, I have a few years of experience) then I go and do it. If I'm not sure then I'll go to the course of study and do the material for those topics.

pocketwgu

Regarding tools, I strongly recommend getting a solid template/wizard for managing citations in APA format. There are a bunch of choices out there, some free others not, but get comfortable with one of them early and quickly. All performance assessments require the proper citation of any outside sources that you use, and many (not all) require that you use some. A tool that makes APA simple is a real time-saver, and knowing that your citation formats will be correct means one less thing to worry about. I used a paid template (from Reference Point Software) that I really liked, but again, there are many free and paid options to choose from.

I also agree with Valsacar, approach is at least as (probably far more) important than tools, and I always started with a review of the assessments (tasks/rubrics or pre-assessment tests) both to know what I would be expected of me, and to plan what I would need to do. For the TaskStream tasks, I also recommend starting every one with an outline consisting of one bullet for every sentence in the task description AND for every metric in the rubric. You can cut and paste these into a document (no point in re-typing them), arrange the outline until it make sense, then go through the outline replacing each bullet with your content that addresses that bullet. Seems like a bit of work, but it isn't; the fastest way through a performance assessment is to "answer the mail" (hit every point) the first time you submit. You have no control over how long it takes to get a grade back from TS (I experienced both less than an hour and more than 4 days), so do what you can to only submit each task once.

The same goes for exams, don't take the real one's until you're certain you'll pass (with some breathing room). Re-taking an exam is a major waste of time, and failing an exam will drain your motivation to keep going. Don't let it happen. Use every learning resource and pre-assessment to KNOW you're going to pass before you schedule the exam. Consider that if you fail an exam, it may be weeks before you're allowed to even schedule it again, and you'll still need to do more studying; putting off the exam for an extra week of study time is actually a time-saver.