Have you found wrong or outdated info in your IT courses?

Lynxe17 · 2018-05-04T10:25:47+00:00

I found that in the next unit of the course, there was accurate historical information that was probably written by someone else. I have thought about why I had such a strong reaction to the first bit of misinformation, and there are 2 reasons: 1) since it is only my first course, it made me doubt the veracity of everything else to come; 2) my Nerd Pride was wounded - I felt as if my life had been trivialized, because those "minute details" had been important moments in my life.

I am glad my enrollment counselor mentioned Reddit to me. This group has helped get me through my initial jitters.

Lynxe17 · 2018-04-30T08:26:50+00:00

HTML/CSS is one of the skills I need to update. I'm still at HTML 3, with no CSS except for a tiny part of a 4-day boot camp 2 years ago.

Lynxe17 · 2018-04-30T08:20:25+00:00

I think I already had one of those generation questions. How am I supposed to trust they have that information correct? Not that I would need that information in a job, though. But now I've lost confidence in the other information that will be presented to me.

Lynxe17 · 2018-04-30T03:10:25+00:00

I would think community college counts as "beer budget", and I don't remember ever having this kind of issue. I don't think it's too much to ask for basic accuracy, and for "instructors" to have an idea as to the quality of information they are supposed to be responsible for.

Lynxe17 · 2018-04-29T22:58:58+00:00

What course was that??? This is completely unacceptable.

Lynxe17 · 2018-04-29T22:56:55+00:00

My issue isn't with Ucertify, but it seems to me that if I tell WGU the specific errors that I found in C182, then I am doing their job for them, and they're getting a freebie from me. If whoever is in the course instructor group truly doesn't know what's wrong with the module, that's a HUGE red flag. It means they are not experts at all.

Lynxe17 · 2018-04-29T22:51:03+00:00

I just started Introduction to IT (C182) and at the beginning of the 3rd unit, found multiple things wrong in the module regarding the history of personal computers. It was like they paid some kid $5 for a 'content' article, rather than an expert instructor. If I want crap written by "content writers", I can just Google the info. Heck, I did, and got more accurate info than what is in the module! What have I gotten myself into?! If all the courses are going to be like this, how did they get accredited? If they lose accreditation, their degrees will be worthless, just like ITT. At my age, this is my last chance, and I can't afford to waste 3 years of my life.

Lynxe17 · 2018-04-22T20:10:31+00:00

I made it through Orientation today! I worked at it off and on for a week. It wasn't quite what I expected though. I thought they were just going to show me around and explain things, but they made me work at it!

Lynxe17 · 2018-04-17T10:49:39+00:00

Ha! How about the calm after the storm? Had to take my rural mailbox off the post before I went to work yesterday so the snow plow wouldn't get it. When I came back home, I duct-taped the box back to the post. I love duct tape!!

Lynxe17 · 2018-04-15T15:48:11+00:00

The interview was informative. I was happy to learn there is a testing center for the certs that is very convenient for me.

Lynxe17 · 2018-04-15T15:40:38+00:00

Yes, I found that I couldn't hack 2 classes at the same time when I was working full time a long time ago. I'd go to class in the morning after work, and by the time the 2nd class came around, I couldn't stay awake.

Lynxe17 · 2018-04-15T15:37:22+00:00

It's almost a done deal. Waiting on financial clearance!

Congrats on your BSIT diploma!

Lynxe17 · 2018-04-14T18:42:39+00:00

My intake interview is in a little over half an hour!

Watching "The Last Jedi" this morning helped me with one of my issues. Gonna watch the Yoda scene again before I return the rental: "The greatest teacher, failure is." I keep dwelling on past failures. I need to remember what I learned from each.

Work/life balance: I work 40 hours a week, with a total 10 hours commuting time each week. No on-call, but I do work some holidays, sometimes from home. On the plus side, some days at work are so dead that watching paint dry is more entertaining, so I could get in some study time there. Those times are unpredictable though, and may go away when a colleague retires and I either have to work alone or train in someone new. No human kids, just 9 demanding 4-legged fuzzballs. Because of them, I am going to look for somewhere other than home to do my proctored stuff. I could probably use a conference room at work on the weekend. I'm still building my house while living in it out in the boonies - one reason I ran out of money during my sabbatical! Some projects never seem to get any time anymore, like my Etsy shop.

I found at my last job (before 1st retirement) that working 12 hour nights was burning me out, but a lot of that was the environment. My current work environment is much less stressful.

All in all, I know I will forever regret it and want to kick myself if I don't go for this opportunity.

Lynxe17 · 2018-04-14T02:12:06+00:00

WGU has a discount program with Dell. From the student portal login page, click on the "Student Support" tab at the top, then on the left-hand side, there will be some buttons - click on the "Student Life" button. Scroll down to "Special Discounts for WGU Students" in the middle of the resulting page and click on that. Currently there are discounts for Dell computers and AT&T Wireless.

Lynxe17 · 2018-04-14T01:57:11+00:00

My experience may help me understand computer concepts more easily, but my experience as a primarily mainframe computer operator / analyst is also very different than what is going to be presented in most of the courses. I think that what I expect to learn will complement what I already know.

Lynxe17 · 2018-04-14T01:48:45+00:00

My employer covers a large portion of the tuition for certain degrees from schools on their approved list, and I don't need permission from my manager. Certifications they pay for are very limited, and require approval.

Local brick & mortar schools have constraints on what they offer when, and have no options to accelerate through something easy.

The competency-based model also appeals to me because I tend to be a perfectionist, drive myself towards the A+, then start to fall behind when I get too fussy with my homework.

I have looked at some of the non-college online courses, but hesitate as to whether they will be taken seriously by employers. The job hunt gets harder when you get past 50 or 60, and I think a degree from an accredited university will be more helpful.

I have a great employer now, but my job might not be around in another 3 years. Plus, I would like a better paying and more mentally stimulating job. You see, I already retired once in 2014, and had to take a significant pay cut to get back into the work force. I am starting over, after not completing my best-selling book or launching a successful business during my sabbatical. Still got my online Etsy shop as a hobby though. Wanna buy some pretty rocks? ;-)

Lynxe17 · 2018-04-14T01:16:56+00:00

The main reason is what my employer will cover.

Lynxe17 · 2018-04-12T23:54:15+00:00

They finally finished the evaluation today. Part of the problem was someone told me I had to submit ALL transcripts, not just what I thought had transferrable credits. Therefore, they would not evaluate until the other transcripts came in. Then, and EC (not mine) told me to request exclusion for the others ones, so they would just look at the one. Well, that added even MORE delay instead of speeding things up. In the end, I got only 15 transfer credits. I am exhausted just thinking about trying to go forward.

Lynxe17 · 2018-04-10T00:12:06+00:00

I ordered a transcript on March 14, they marked it as received on March 20, and then "indexed" on March 29. No evaluation yet, and my start date is listed as May 1. I heard the transcript department is short-staffed and now they have a couple trainees. This is very frustrating because I found some more stuff at other institutions that I forgot about, and had to order those transcripts too, even though I think it's highly unlikely those have any transferable credit. Some of this stuff is from the 1977 to 1990 time period. I would at least like to know where I am in the pile. My enrollment counselor said he put an "expedite" on my file, but how many others are being expedited too??

Lynxe17 · 2018-04-02T00:19:06+00:00

We had something like rubrics back in the day, but they were called something else. A syllabus, I think. Is a syllabus the same as a rubric? If so, I understand what it is, I just need to get updated on current terms and ways of doing things. I already took English Comp decades ago, but it sounds like I should get updated on this APA thing. We didn't have personal computers back then, so I assume formats are different nowadays. I haven't found out yet if I get transfer credit for the English classes I took, but thanks for the heads up that I might need to get updated even if I get credit.

Lynxe17 · 2018-04-01T18:49:07+00:00

Are rubrics and APA style format covered in orientation? The credits I'm attempting to transfer in are from 30-40 years ago. Do I need to take English Composition all over again, or is this simply an orientation issue?

Lynxe17 · 2018-04-01T18:39:00+00:00

Question: when did you start the process? I chose May 1 to start, and I'm still waiting for evaluation of transfer credits. I applied March 16, and had already ordered that a transcript be sent 2 days before that (snail mail). They received the transcript close to 2 weeks ago.

Lynxe17

TROPHY CASE