Current and Emerging Technology - LYT2

SUMMARY:
Time to complete course: November 1st - December 18th
Task 1: 7 pages, 3rd attempt
Task 2: 12 pages, 2nd attempt
Task 3:  14 pages, 1st attempt

TIPS: Can not stress enough to read the scenario and course mentor tips CAREFULLY!  Doing this will help allow you not to have to do any revisions.

November 8th, 2015
I originally started out with the Risk Management course but the school suggests a specific order to take the courses in, so I followed their recommendation. Instead I'm now in my first class, Current and Emerging Technology (LYT2). I started the class a week ago and I've already completed 47% of the class! I must say though, the first chapter out of a book that they have you read, I thought I may have to quit, that I was in over my head. It was very dry and hard to follow, reading instructions on how to set the time on a VCR would have been better. However, after I finished the chapter and moved on, chapters from other books and articles have been pleasant to read. One issue I ran into is that I have my first task done (Friday), a paper that's a response to an RFP, however, I can't submit it as there's an issue with my TaskStream account. I'm hoping that this issue is resolved so I can submit it tomorrow (Monday). The nice thing is that this isn't holding me up at all as I just went ahead and continued diving deeper into the course material.

November 10th, 2015
Finally gained access to TaskStream yesterday but I'm just now submitting my paper tonight.  After a few reviews, I realized that my paper was lacking content. I ended up adding 3.5 more pages, with graphical examples of my solutions to the RFP.  I just uploaded it and sent in to TurnItIn. I'm hoping to have it reviewed by TII in the next hour (I'll check after tonight's episode of The Flash...). After that, I'll hit the fancy submit button and see if I can pass the task on the first try! Fingers crossed!

Oh, and I'm now 58% complete with the course. My goal is to complete the course by the 23rd...13 days left...well..12 pretty much!

November 12th, 2015
Now 74% complete with the course. I could have been done with the reading and on to the last two tasks, but I haven't done too much the last two days as I've been under the weather.  My first task got returned today, after almost 48hrs since I submitted it. I had to revise 1 out of 6 objectives, which wasn't bad. I wrote an additional page and half, better explaining the decisions and submitted it again. Not expecting to find out the status for another two days. I really like that they show you the position of your paper in the line to get reviewed. The first submission, I was #90, new submission was #101.

My second weekly call with the mentor was tonight. It lasted almost 20 minutes because I had a couple of questions. I expect future calls to be about 5 minutes.

I should have all reading done for the course by Saturday and take all of next week to complete the last two tasks.  I originally wanted to complete the class in two weeks, but there is a lot more reading than I thought there would be....and I hate reading....so three weeks is the new goal which half the time the expect you to complete it in.

November 27th, 2015
I took a couple week break from WGU as I got discouraged from Task 1 being sent back twice.  After the break, I took a deeper look into the task area that I was messing up on and finally figured out where I was going wrong. I started from scratch on the one area, finished and resent it in. Two days later I woke up to an e-mail saying that all area goals were met and Task 1 is now finally complete.  My original goal was to complete the course in 2-3 weeks, but now I'm looking at 5 weeks. I've finished all the reading and just have to sit down and work on Task 2 and Task 3. I'm hoping to complete them both over the next week and move on to the next course.

Task 1: 7 pages long. Accepted on 3rd attempt

December 9th, 2015
I'm disappointed to say that I'm further behind that I wanted to be. I wanted to have this class completed several weeks ago, but I'm a huge procrastinator, haha.   I just submitted Task 2 tonight and don't expect to hear back for about 48hrs as usual.

December 12th, 2015
Task 2 sent back for revisions for just one section. Wrote an additional page and half to add more information and clarify my previous response.  Task 2 resubmitted and now on to Task 3.

December 13th, 2015
Task 2 Accepted!
Task 2: 14 pages long counting a cover page and 2 pages of citations. Accepted on 2nd attempt.

December 15th, 2015
Task 3 submitted. Fingers crossed.

December 18th, 2015
Came out from seeing Star Wars (awesome), to see I have a new e-mail....Task 3 passed with no revisions needed! Wow, I'm honestly surprised! haha. I hated this task because I felt it lacked a wealth of information about the servers that would help better write the paper (help to figure out actual visualization requirements). In the end, it didn't matter, I just did what was asked by making up some BS here and there and they dug it.
Task 3: 14 pages long counting a cover page and 1 page of citations. Accepted on 1st attempt.

COURSE COMPLETED!!!!

Success Kit

My success kit came today.  The main thing here is the webcam which is used to monitor you while you take tests so that they can see if you cheat or not. 

The kit included:

• Web camera with WGU owl on the back of it, which is cool...but the picture quality of this camera is horrible....like 1996 camera horrible...like...flip phone camera horrible....yeah, it's pretty horrible...
• Plastic WGU coffee cup (I don't drink coffee, but it's still cool!)
• Vinyl WGU car sticker (Neat!)
• Magnetic whiteboard with marker....Dollar General doesn't even sell this crappy of a product...it's really bad...
• 2 sided door sign. I'm taking a test/I'm studying
  
  
  (Me and my kids, Meraki and Khaleesi)
  

That's a pretty box you got there.

Can I trade the whiteboard and door sign in for a t-shirt, please?

Officially starting classes!

Here we go! I'll only be updating from now on as I complete each class. I'm hoping to complete each class in 3-4 weeks. I've made calendar events for pretty much every part of my day to keep me on track. My phone alerts me when I need to study on my lunch break at work, when to eat dinner at home, to start studying for two hours after lunch, when to work out, free time, everything. Why? Because otherwise I'll push it all off and go do something else and try to go back to studying later...but will then get side tracked once again. Over the last week, the scheduling of my daily activities has greatly helped me stay on task!

Graduate Student Group Degree Plan Call

Attended a webinar tonight with host Bob Curtis (an IT Student Mentor), lasted an hour and was full of good information! One thing he mentioned is that we already have access to a lot of the course work and can get started to "try it before we buy it", making sure we know what we're getting into. You don't official get locked into WGU and owe money until you hit the "enroll" button on your degree plan, which has to also be approved by your mentor. I love that! He wanted to make it clear that there is a LOT of writing involved...which sadly, I already knew, ha. Looking forward to the challenge! So I'm going to get started tomorrow!

Mentor

Just nine days left until I start classes! I received a (generic) email from my student mentor, Kirk, today outlining several things, including two upcoming webinars to attend. Also, a couple pages of questions to answer and shoot back, basically asking my expierence, planned time to complete the degree, reasoning for obtaining the degree and so on. I should be receiving another email in the next few days to pick out an available time slot to speak with him on the phone. They expect it to last around 30 minutes according to the email, and what I've seen others say as well. Getting close!

After I start, there will be far less posts as the start process will be complete. Additionally, there's only so much I can really talk about once I start taking the classes since I can't post specifics at that point about the class and work itself. WGU has rules against that, plus it's not ethically right.

Orientation and a Webinar

My WGU orientation became available today. The orientation is to be completed before you can start your first course and is available starting on the 15th of the month prior to the month you're suppose to start your first term. They say it will take 2-6 hours, it took me about 4, with many breaks in between. My only complaint is that they go over things that you won't have access to until your first term. Not much more to say about this, it's an introduction to WGU and their system and 90% of it you will already know if you did all the research possible into WGU prior to applying, which I did. I also came across today a note that there would be an hour webinar tonight for "Preparing for Success at WGU: Building your Writing Toolkit". They pretty much just go over writing resources and talking about APA citation. One thing to note, while I can sign into My.WGU.Edu, I can't sign into their mobile app. Will be contacting support about this. Finally, I'll be confirming course plan tomorrow with my console. Another update tomorrow if I feel it's needed.

LinkedIn: Let's Get connected!

For those of you reading this, if you'd like to connect with me, you can do it on LinkedIn.

Cleared to Begin.

Just got an email stating that everything has cleared (transcripts/financial aid) and that I'm good to begin my program on November 1st.

I have to do orientation next, which I can't access until the 15th of the month before I start classes, in 17 days.

My next phone meeting with my enrollment counselor is the following day, the 16th, so I don't expect there to be any more blog updates until then.

Aid Update #4

Officially accepted the aid amount today. Should be all set and be able to do the orientation soon. In just a little over two weeks I went from applying, getting accepted, and loans taken care of. I think that's pretty awesome.

Aid Update #3

Everything has cleared so far so now they asked how much aid I wanted. I requested the option to get exactly what is needed to cover 1 year (2 terms), no more, no less. Their department seems to be processing all this pretty quickly!

Aid Update #2

Checked the schools site and it shows they finally got my FAFSA. I didn't get notified via email which is kind of a bummer, so glad I've been actively looking. Also wasn't told the next step but figured it out. Had to complete loan entrance counseling and sign the master promissory note. Doubt I'll find out how much aid I'll get till next week.

Financial Aid Update

WGU called me once again to say they still haven't received my FAFSA information. We finally got to the bottom of it, either I gave them the wrong SSN or they inputted it wrong. No big deal though, it has been corrected. Hopefully by the end of the week I'll finally get my aid information. Getting closer!

Accepted into WGU!

Woke up this morning to an awesome email from WGU stating that I'm in!

Had a meeting with my enrollment counselor already scheduled for today at 10:45 as well. The call lasted a 18 minutes and she just went over some standard stuff and confirmed my address. Nothing major.

WGU still haven't processed my FASFA but she said they are busy right now finishing things for students that start on October 1st. Once that's done in the next week or so, I should get more information on what financial assistance I'll get. Though at this price....it's not a make or break for me, personally.

I should be getting an email for orientation soon which she said is a 6 hour process to complete, module based. No, they don't have to be done all in one long sitting, thankfully!

So yay, I'm going back to school!

FASFA, Grants and a Transcript

After submitting my FASFA on Friday, September 11th, it was processed and sent to WGU on Monday, the 14th. Great turn around time!

I found it odd that I received a "general scholarship application" submission e-mail from WGU. I first filled out the form last week and applied for one grant advertised by WGU. Today's e-mail said the general application was good and now to go back and apply for grants/scholarships. Since I already did one, the only one that I qualified for, I guess I'm good to go still. Oh but wait, today I found one more scholarship I can apply for since I work at a nonprofit (school system), yay! So off to fill that one out and hopefully I won't need to use much from FASFA at all.

I realized this morning that I was suppose to send ALL transcripts, not just my Northern Michigan University one where I earned my Bachelor degree. So this morning I sent in my Baker College transcripts and they were received by WGU just 6 hours later.

Back To School?

Four days ago, on September 9th, I got serious about going back to school to earn my Master's degree (Master of Science: Information Technology Management). I've thought about it on and off over the last few years now, but really had an itch lately due to new career goals.

I posted a status on Facebook asking if any of my friends had any expierence on online schools.  By the time the replies started coming in, I was already looking at Arizona State University and Walden as they are highly recommended through college review sites. However, a friend recommended Western Govenors University. Upon checking them out, I realized that I could get my degree for around $9,000 compared to $20-35k elsewhere.

To good to be true? After hours of research I found that WGU had better overall ratings than the other schools from students. I did find it funny that review after review kept using the same phrases over and over again. Turns out, those reviews are fake, created by school as marketing.  However, my buddy is digging WGU and I couldn't pass it up for the small price of $3k every 6 months, taking as many classes as I want.

So on the 10th I filled out the form online to have them contact me. Shortly after I received a call to schedule a meeting with my enrollment counselor for the following morning, the 11th.  The enrollment counselor missed the meeting so I sent her an email. The next morning (the 12th) I received a call from her stating that she was sorry and had a family emergency, no big deal. She went over the things I'll need to send in and sent me emails covering them all.

That morning I sat down and signed up for FASFA, ordered my transcripts to be sent to WGU, filled out a work expierence form and applied for a grant. The work expierence form was sent back to me and I was asked to be more detailed in my responsibilities. Basically my bachelor degree wasn't really related to the masters program, so they want to make sure I have the expierence to do the program. No big deal, I know that I do and I hope I made it clear that I do. I sent this back to my enrollment counselor the following day, the 13th.

I also got notification that on the 13th that WGU received my transcript from Nother Michigan University. Yay!

So now I get to wait to hear back from them if the work expierence paper was what they are looking for and if I'll be excepted into the Masters program at WGU. Based on reviews online, I expect to wait 2-3 weeks before I find ouch....which sucks. I'm really eager to find out! If everything goes through, I'll be starting Novemeber 1st.