WGU MSISA Blues

I just wanted to vent a little bit about one of the assessments that I got returned for a second time. I feel very strongly that my submission met the requirements. I even submitted an e-care ticket and was denied. I guess I'm just a little fed up with the vague writing prompts that get returned because it doesn't fall within the graders' defined parameters that I'm not aware of. Has this happened to anyone else?

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markulous

Welcome to CrapStream.

Yes, they are horrible like that. They are extremely nitpicky over things that seem irrelevant and/or are not outlined in the rubric. They also provide terrible feedback. Sometimes they won't say anything. Other times it will be extremely vague (as you said).

Best one I've seen yet was on the assignment I turned in (finally completed it) yesterday. It was for a SQL database and I had to create a table that meets the 3rd normalization form. They said something along the lines of:

"Table meets the 3rd normal form per the rubric. Does not meet 3rd normal form criteria."

What the heck does that mean? LOL.

cyberguypr

Yep, yep, yep. I hear you. I've been very vocal here on how much I dislike WGU's evaluation model. I've submitted papers that were well thought out and properly supported and still didn't pass. Then they came with with either no comments on why it failed or comments that made no sense at all. At many points I reached out to course mentors and they couldn't even make sense of what was wrong and what the evaluators complained about. As an experiment I purposely crafted crap papers that passed with high marks. Ridiculous.

I'm one task away plus the capstone from completing the degree and can categorically say that it's been an awful experience for me. I'll stop here before I go in rant mode.

sigsoldier

Haha well at least I'm not alone.

Mitechniq

I always got further and better information from the course mentor, just send him/her your dilemma and see what he/she says.

bradl3yC

cyberguypr wrote: »

Yep, yep, yep. I hear you. I've been very vocal here on how much I dislike WGU's evaluation model. I've submitted papers that were well thought out and properly supported and still didn't pass. Then they came with with either no comments on why it failed or comments that made no sense at all. At many points I reached out to course mentors and they couldn't even make sense of what was wrong and what the evaluators complained about. As an experiment I purposely crafted crap papers that passed with high marks. Ridiculous.

I'm one task away plus the capstone from completing the degree and can categorically say that it's been an awful experience for me. I'll stop here before I go in rant mode.

Your rant mode is legendary. Please continue.

markulous

Mitechniq wrote: »

I always got further and better information from the course mentor, just send him/her your dilemma and see what he/she says.

That's what I've done both times. Both times though, even his advice didn't help. What helped me the most is when I submit it and there's a comments section, I detail the changes I've made and that I want specific feedback regarding whatever it is we're having issues with. Overcommunicate basically, because they seem impaired when it comes to communication.

I'm working on my tech writing/capstone now and I am not looking forward to what they're going to say.

kurosaki00

I took the first 3 classes and I dont think I'm doing the rest of the degree.
Not paying for something that annoys the crap out of me.

Paying it out of my pocket and once they sent me an email saying I could face admin withdraw because I did not talked to the mentor.
Got better things to do with my time.

Several papers returned, after a while I just began blabbering definitions/no fluency on pages and it seems they just want that. Define/explain something and jump to next subject.

N2IT

I never had that many problems with task stream. Once in a while it came back for some annoying but I usually quickly corrected and resubmitted.

aspiringsoul

I feel your pain.

I remember when I was writing for a task for Cyberlaw, where I literally added one sentence and re-stated the same thing that I had said earlier in the paper....and it passed. My mentor and course mentor were unable to provide guidance on why it did not pass the first time, but it passed after adding a redundant sentence?

For the most part, I have not had many issues with taskstream, aside from one or two tasks.

markulous

kurosaki00 wrote: »

I took the first 3 classes and I dont think I'm doing the rest of the degree.
Not paying for something that annoys the crap out of me.

Paying it out of my pocket and once they sent me an email saying I could face admin withdraw because I did not talked to the mentor.
Got better things to do with my time.

Several papers returned, after a while I just began blabbering definitions/no fluency on pages and it seems they just want that. Define/explain something and jump to next subject.

Yeah, I think whenever I do my MS, it's going to be somewhere else. They don't offer certs for that degree and just too much writing, which I honestly don't mind but it just means that I'm going to have to deal with TaskScream more.

N2IT

The MBA had some simulations, but I had to write a ton of papers. It was crazy.

JoJoCal19

I'm in the EXACT same boat right now. I had that issue right at the end of last term and after they sent it back a couple of times and I appealed and re-appealed and lost, I had the mentor get with them and get down to the word what they wanted and had to get a 7 day term extension approved. Left such a bad taste in my mouth. Already this term I had that issue with VUT Task 2. They sent it back saying it didn't meet the level of detail required but didn't say how much more detail or what to add (I disagreed because I did add a lot of detail for that section). It's just really a nightmare and awful to deal with vague, subjective requirements. I too had a situation like aspiringsoul where something was kicked back and I added one sentence to the section they didn't like and it passed. Whatever. If it weren't for the fact that I'm halfway through, and that I wanted an MSISA on the cheap because I'm getting my MBA at UF, I would have just dropped out.

stryder144

Hmmm...I wonder if simply resubmitting the paper, without corrections, might do the trick? I haven't dealt with Taskstream yet, so I might be completely off the mark. I did something similar to what I am suggesting 25 years ago. I was at Fort Dix for some training and I was told to re-clean the bolt of my M16. It was as clean as it was going to get, so I turned, walked to the back of the line, and resubmitted it for inspection without trying to clean it again. Oddly enough, same inspector, different result!

cyberguypr

I don't have first have experience with resubmitting with no changes but have read multiple instances of people claiming they did it and it passed.

BTW, my one pending task just came back as Meets Requirement. That leaves me 6 weeks for the capstone. I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

stryder144

@cyberguypr...congrats on getting to your capstone. I hope it goes smoothly.

I used to submit performance reports, get idiotic change requests, change the reports, only to have someone higher up the chain not like the changes. So, I'd reinsert the bullet statements from the original submission and rarely had it returned to me for further correction. Hopefully, later this term, I don't run into too many Taskstream issues. We shall see.

cshkuru

So here is my trick for dealing with the taskstream graders - I would cut and paste their comments, in a different color, into the paper as I was revising then I would strike out the old content and do the new content in the same color as their coments. After I was done I would resubmit. If it came back a second time I would do the same thing again in a new color. I had task come back more than once and when I complained whoever handles the complaints looked at the revisions and said my original content would have been fine but the revisions were exactly what had been asked for and I got straight 4s on the final submission.

Mike-Mike

aspiringsoul wrote: »

I literally added one sentence and re-stated the same thing that I had said earlier in the paper....and it passed. .

i had this same thing happen

srabiee

I really didn't have much problem with them during my BS degree, but they are a pain in the ass while working on the MS degree. Multiple rejections based on vague complaints that aren't in the rubric. Overly picky, overly critical responses. Takes 3 or 4 days just to get a paper graded, and then have it rejected multiple times. Course mentor often doesn't agree with their assessments. Sucks.

colemic

If you ask them really nice, and give them some $$, EC-Council may help you with your capstone.

cyberguypr wrote: »

I don't have first have experience with resubmitting with no changes but have read multiple instances of people claiming they did it and it passed.

BTW, my one pending task just came back as Meets Requirement. That leaves me 6 weeks for the capstone. I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

BradleyHU

kurosaki00 wrote: »

I took the first 3 classes and I dont think I'm doing the rest of the degree.
Not paying for something that annoys the crap out of me.

Paying it out of my pocket and once they sent me an email saying I could face admin withdraw because I did not talked to the mentor.
Got better things to do with my time.

Several papers returned, after a while I just began blabbering definitions/no fluency on pages and it seems they just want that. Define/explain something and jump to next subject.

i've heard pplz talk about how they have to talk to their "mentors" once a week.....that alone is enough for me to NOT want to enroll in that school, if i ever decided to do the online school thing, which i probably never would do anyway. i don't get, why do i HAVE to speak to a mentor, when the curriculum is cut & dry? I get speaking to someone if you're having issues, but that should be on your part to seek them out if and when you feel like doing so. When i did undergrad, i spoke to an academic advisor maybe 4 times in the time i was in college, and spoke to the chair of my dept a few times as well about my classes, other than the classes I had that he taught.

colemic

That requirement is only for the first term. WGU has a vested interested in you completing your coursework as well, and after the first term, when you have shown that you can maintain your own motivation, your mentor should allow you to modify the schedule.

If more B&M schools had accountability meetings like this, where you had to explain to someone why you hadn't gone to class for 3 weeks, their dropout/failure rate wouldn't be as high as it is.

Danielm7

Exactly, in a B&M school you talk to your teachers about 50x a week, at WGU you talk to a mentor for about 10 minutes a week and the rest of the time are completely independent, it really isn't a huge deal. They are also very clear about it when you are signing up, if you agreed to everything and then decided you can't spare a few minutes a week then it really isn't the mentor's issue.

markulous

colemic wrote: »

That requirement is only for the first term. WGU has a vested interested in you completing your coursework as well, and after the first term, when you have shown that you can maintain your own motivation, your mentor should allow you to modify the schedule.

If more B&M schools had accountability meetings like this, where you had to explain to someone why you hadn't gone to class for 3 weeks, their dropout/failure rate wouldn't be as high as it is.

Agreed. I didn't mind it at all. After a couple months he pushed it to every two weeks. Even then, if I missed a call, all I'd do is just shoot him back an email whenever I had a moment with my goals for the next couple of weeks.

nathandrake

I don't get the whole issue with talking to your mentor. Maybe I got lucky with mine, but I talk to mine once every two weeks and the phone conversations last no more than 90 seconds. So I spend roughly 180 seconds a month on the phone with my mentor. I honestly can't see how this can contribute to person's decision not to enroll at WGU.

srabiee

Here's what my student mentor had to say about that issue in a recent email:

"As we approach several months with days where the University will be closed for holidays or I know that I will be out of office (meetings, trainings, commencement, vacation, etc.), I wanted to make sure that we do everything to keep you in compliance with our communication policy. I am required to submit any student I have not spoken to by phone for the inactivity withdrawal process on the 15^th day since our last phone conversation. This is not something I have discretion over, but am required to do by my manager and the University.

I’m very lucky that you guys are really great about maintaining communication with me and it isn’t something that I have to do very often (I have only had a handful of students withdrawn for inactivity over the last 12 months), but the University takes it very seriously because beyond our calls being about keeping you on track and pacing you through your program, our calls discussing your academic activity are tied to WGU’s accreditation and credentialing.

To see the policy, you can go to this link in the student handbook http://sh.wgu.edu/articles/StudentHandbook/1035/?l=en_US&fs=Search&pn=1 "

aderon

markulous wrote: »

Welcome to CrapStream.

Yes, they are horrible like that. They are extremely nitpicky over things that seem irrelevant and/or are not outlined in the rubric. They also provide terrible feedback. Sometimes they won't say anything. Other times it will be extremely vague (as you said).

Best one I've seen yet was on the assignment I turned in (finally completed it) yesterday. It was for a SQL database and I had to create a table that meets the 3rd normalization form. They said something along the lines of:

"Table meets the 3rd normal form per the rubric. Does not meet 3rd normal form criteria."

What the heck does that mean? LOL.

Lol I had issues with submitting assessments for that class as well. They didn't like that I used DID and CID instead of DonutID and CustomerID and gave me a 0% on my submission because of it. I changed it and got it back as passing

goatama

Has anybody checked out R Brady Frost's WGU Assessment Template?

I've noticed a lot more complaints since I started my BS in 2012 on the quality of the TaskStream graders, and when I did my technical writing/capstone I was really disappointed on the level of feedback. All the articles and things I've seen (not forum posts from actual students, but articles written by journalists) say the level of feedback is in-depth and the graders are all Americans with Master's degrees in their field. (Of course I can't find any of those articles now.) But it seemed to me like the grading was outsourced to the Philippines or something, and the feedback was... lacking for lack of a better word. Nothing more than a few words, and my overall grade was a 3.2 for my capstone. I went above and beyond on that and knocked it out of the park, and got almost no response for it. Kinda irritated me. Yes, I passed, and I know that's all I should care about, but I put a LOT of work into that thing.

Now I see all of this about the Master's and I'm nervous. I'll be working on my first task this weekend, so I'll use the template and see how it goes.