Taskstream submission

I turned in my presentation and executive summary for Task 1 of C204 Management Communication last Friday.  Today it was graded and I passed with perfect scores.  I submitted the Task late in the evening.  So over the weekend it took 2.5 to 3 days to be graded.  I turned in Task 2 on Sunday night and currently it is just under 100 in the queue.  It was over 200th when I submitted it Sunday night.  I guess everybody crams school in on the weekends.  That could be a benefit to finishing courses before the weekend.  I’m guessing the grading turnaround is faster on weekdays.

Managing Human Capital

Just a few moments ago I passed the Objective Assessment for C202 Managing Human Capital.  Despite my previous intentions to cram for the exam, I studied less than two hours total over the last two days.  I did hit all the areas from the Coaching Report where I missed questions and I reviewed labor laws and some other less familiar terms I encountered on the pre-assessment.  With that focused study I scored a 91% on the exam tonight which constitutes my first verifiable A.  Since I did not receive percentage scores on my performance assessments for the first course I completed, it is hard to determine what my grade would have been.  That’s the interesting part that keeps coming up for me in this program.  The competency based approach is entirely unconcerned with grades.  The entire point is to demonstrate competency in the curriculum.  My time tracker indicates 15.8 hours of total time spent on C202 with 13.3 hours dedicated to study.  Those hours are spread across the last twelve days to earn three more Competency Units (the WGU equivalent of credits).  I did encounter terminology and various concepts that were not familiar to me, but none of the material was difficult for me to understand.  Given my years of experience in the corporate world I’ve been exposed to most of the concepts in this course from the perspective of the employee.  I’m sure I encountered some of the concepts in my undergraduate work as well.  The test had some definition type questions.  A number of the questions required application of concepts to choose the correct answer.  These were probably the most difficult questions and arguably best demonstrate competency in a concept.  Choosing between similar responses that can only be distinguished by specific interpretation of a concept might be as challenging as multiple choice can be.  Questions asking what specific laws or concepts address are basically memory tests which represents the fundamental core of the current American educational system.  Whether you go to Harvard or elementary school, rote learning persists.  In some cases, you just have to remember something.  Sometimes if you can’t remember a detail, you can’t perform a task.  The objective assessment was on par with the pre-assessment.  I thought a few of the questions were more challenging and required a deeper understanding of the concept.  Perhaps this is reflected in the 40 minutes I spent on the OA versus the 29 minutes spent on the pre-assessment.

Managing Human Capital was of lesser interest to me personally than previous courses and I found parts of the text boring and/or frustrating.  For me much of the tedium of Human Resources concepts stems from the political correctness that is woven throughout.  If I were to base my opinion of humans and particularly Americans on several of the chapters I would be led to believe people who run enterprises hate and exploit anyone that they would have work for them.  Therefore only numerous laws with vague names could possibly protect the poor, helpless filth that would dare take a job.  I know this is a slightly dramatic interpretation on the subject, but my own personal views can’t be completely ignored when analyzing the material.  In fact, not comparing my beliefs and ideas against the subject materials would be a rather superficial approach.  Given this is a master’s degree it would seem deficient to not spend time comparing and contrasting my views and those presented in the course.  While I won’t discount historical events that led to the reactions and laws mentioned in this course, I dislike theories that would portray individuals as victims instead of agents unto themselves, capable of navigating their own course.  One benefit of modern technology is the ability of the individual to argue their position on a larger stage.  This brings greater communication parity between large groups and the individual.  In some cases the individual actually has a stronger voice than an organization today.

I’m pleased with my results in the course.  Any thoughts I may have entertained previously about pursuing a career path through HR have been tempered.  Spending that much time analyzing jobs and applicants, discussing staffing strategies, and performing many of the other day to day functions does not sound engaging to me.  The text Human Resource Management made it clear that employee engagement is a powerful and desirable concept.  I’ll take what I have from this course and look to another subject to find my personal career engagement.

The last two days I listened to an interview with Scott Adams.  Adams told a funny and interesting story about using affirmations to raise his GMAT score from a 77 to a 94.  I spent time throughout the day today focusing on receiving a 90% on my exam.  I visualized what a 90% on the test results page would look like.  After scoring an 84% on the pre-test two nights ago I was a bit incredulous to see the 91% tonight after only studying an additional 100 minutes.  Does an additional 100 minutes of reviewing flashcards and key concepts equal a 7% increase in a test?  Does a personal affirmation repeated all day have a greater impact?  I won’t sit staring at the score as long as Adams stared at his GMAT results but the experience won’t be soon forgotten.  [I just used this paragraph to send an email to Scott Adams thanking him for sharing his story on the podcast.]  It’s now almost midnight and way past my bedtime.

Activating the Objective Assessment

I’ve been slower in progressing through Human Resources Management than I wanted due to various church and family obligations.  I’ve also had some intense days of work over the last week or more.  Particularly last week during the work week I struggled to study and cover material.  However, the flashcards and key words in the text have allowed me to make very efficient use of the time I have put in.  Tonight I finished the last chapter of material and decided to try the pre-assessment for C202 Human Resources Management.  The 70 question test has a time limit of two hours and a required pass rate of 67%.  After putting the kids to bed, I started the test at 8:10 p.m.  According to the Coaching Report I received upon completion I finished the test in 29 minutes and passed with a score of 84%.  Not wanting to delay any further I shot an email request to my mentor to approve my scheduling of the Objective Assessment.  When I opened my inbox I was pleasantly surprised to find an email from my mentor indicating the OA was already approved and I could schedule immediately.  Let’s do some review on the timeline.  In my personal time tracker I recorded an end time of 8:41 p.m.  The Google powered WGU email indicates that by 8:46 p.m. my mentor had seen my results, approved my OA scheduling, and sent me an email notifying me of this.  At 8:49 p.m. I sent a brief email telling her what great service that was.  I will definitely schedule this exam before the end of the week.  It looks like I might be done with another class and working on my fourth course by the weekend.  I’ve scheduled the test for 8:30 p.m. two days from now.  I’ll cram a little between now and then.

First remote-proctored exam

After being told I could schedule my Global Economics for Managers objective assessment, I felt some annoyance with the time constraints coming from work.  I knew that today, Saturday, was the day to take the exam.  But with only two days to review the material I scored lowest on during the pre-assessment I knew it would take some personal fortitude to study late at night.  Sure enough I worked late on both Thursday and Friday with large work output and intense mental concentration.  I studied 80 minutes on Thursday, 1.5 hours on Friday, and 35 minutes this morning.  I woke up excited and eager to just take the test.  My wife made it clear I was expected to watch my oldest daughter’s first soccer game.  While I wanted to watch her game and was glad I went, I was anxious all day for 2 p.m. to arrive.  Finally I logged on to the WGU website ten minutes prior to the scheduled exam and opened the Assessment Center.  I found a clock counting down to the start of the exam.  I prepped my office previously and decided the eight minute countdown might as well provide more study.  One of the concepts I noted I should study after the pre-test was the nominal interest rate relationship with exchange rates.  I flipped open my textbook and read about the concept under a section titled ‘How Monetary Policy Influences Aggregate Demand.’  Coincidentally, this brief reference helped me with a question on the test. 

Once I initiated the exam launcher I had to wait an uncomfortably long time for a proctor to respond to my attempt to connect.  Once the proctor arrived it became clear that he could not hear me.  I really thought the webcam had a microphone.  I’ll have to specifically inquire about this.  I fortunately have a Blue usb microphone and jumped up and plugged it in.  Several moments of troubleshooting later and I had both video and sound.  I did have to unplug and replug my WGU webcam before the video would activate.  Hopefully this is a one-time event and the issues don’t occur in my next exam.  This cost me some time but the Examity proctor (likely from India) was helpful and professional.  We ran through the formalities of showing my ID, 360 degree view of my office, answering of a security question, and confirmation of my name and the exam I was taking. 

I started the 50 question exam and quickly made my way through it.  I bookmarked 8 questions for review.  After reviewing the bookmarked questions, I finished the exam in 35 minutes.  That’s much faster than the two hour time limit and 21 minutes faster than I completed the pre-test.  With much excitement I quickly answered the survey Examity asked me to complete after finishing the test and logged into my WGU account.  My answer was clear on the home screen when I saw the Global Economics for Managers course had turned blue and moved into the completed courses list.  All the same I went into the course and pulled up my Coaching Report.  I passed the test with an 80% and noted that I was rewarded in those sections where I put extra study time with a score of 100%.  The exam had more questions on Globalization and Foreign Trade than the pretest and that is where I missed the most questions. 

Considering that one test determines whether I pass or don’t pass the course, I’m thrilled that I just finished the course in 8 days.  I just earned 3 Master’s level credits in 8 days!  My mom has been considering a Master’s in Nursing and is deciding between University of Phoenix and WGU.  I know which method I prefer.  Completing two courses 12 days into my first term is huge motivation and makes me wonder whether sitting through all those undergrad courses for four years was a dumb approach.   I know I’m now benefitting in the MBA program from all my prior education and experience, but I never learned well listening to someone lecture.

The two textbooks for C211 were good and I’m glad I ordered physical copies.  A couple of questions on tests made me wonder whether the newest editions emphasized different points from the older editions I was reading.  However, the proof is in the results.  I read all the suggested chapters once and completed review questions for those chapters suggested for review after the pre-test.  Combined with my prior knowledge this was enough to easily pass the exams quickly.  I found the reading interesting and frequently tried to apply the concepts to my work and current company.  I don’t consider myself an economist and did not love my undergraduate Economics courses.  I do listen to Freakonomics and Planet Money podcasts each week, but those don’t necessarily approach the topics with an academic framework like this course requires.  My results are accelerated and improved by my background in Accounting and Finance, but the tests were evenly matched to the materials presented in the course.  I only saw one or two questions in the objective assessment that I wondered where they pulled it from.  I’m satisfied with the course.  Learning a few things and refreshing a number of topics were positives for me.  For being academic textbooks, each text held interesting examples that were enjoyable to read.  Passing the course quickly and being engaged by the material make me very happy at the end. 

mentor feedback

Today the student mentor told me I should take the Global Economics for Managers Objective Assessment this week.  She said I was doing fantastic in the program.  I was hoping for that response, because I don’t want to be held back by a doubting mentor.

Global Economics

Today I finished all the readings for C211 Global Economics for Managers.  I took the pre-assessment because I have a phone call with my student mentor and wanted to gauge how well my approach of just reading the chapters could work.  The required pass rate is 65% and I achieved 78%.  Although the time limit was 2 hours, I finished in 57 minutes. This included a review of 15 questions I bookmarked and recording of word prompts for future concept study.  I’ve completed less than 15 hours of study time for this course and have already demonstrated enough understanding to pass it.  Two nights ago I completed two homework questions in Cengage online to see the format of the questions.  I’ve found all the reading to be generally familiar and easy to understand.  If I worked through the multiple choice online homework questions I could probably significantly increase my score and speed of completion on the test.  Overall this result is promising and indicates I have a high degree of familiarity with the subject matter, despite taking only two economics courses during undergrad approximately 10 - 12 years ago.  Would I like a better score than what I obtained?  Yes.  Did the CPA exam teach me that barely passing the exam versus crushing it yields the same result?  Definitely.  This should make my mentor phone call tomorrow interesting.  She asked me to read one week worth of material by tomorrow and I’ve nearly completed the entire course.  I feel good about scheduling the official exam.  Hopefully I can take it Saturday and move right along.

First course complete

I just found out that I passed both Tasks for C200 Managing Organizations and Leading People.  I saw this in Taskstream after receiving emails telling me my assignments had been graded.  After seeing the results I refreshed my degree plan and was dancing-in-my-seat-excited to see the below changes.

Note the date and time stamp included in the screen shot.  Also, I cropped the image to cut out blank space and enlarge to a viewable size. 

I passed C200!  The blue banner and the blue circle with a P indicate I have passed the first two courses.  While the first course is Orientation the second bar is the true accomplishment.  I’ve earned my first Master’s level credits ever in my life!  Booyah!

Here are some extra shots showing my results and the offered option to post results to social media.

Results in Taskstream:

Taskstream also provides a PDF copy of the Evaluation Results which I did save in my course folder on my computer.  You never know when you’ll need some evidence in case the system deletes prior accomplishments!  I’m not actually afraid of that happening, but a little insurance would be invaluable if ever needed.

I’ve been reading for C211 Global Economics for Managers and have already read most of the assignments.  I’m finding that I have a high degree of familiarity with the subject matter.  I hope to finish all the readings today and take the pretest during the week.  Work should be very busy this week which makes taking advantage of the Labor Day holiday today a big help.  This is the type of progress I had in mind when I started in August.  It’s the reason I re-enrolled in September to get off to a faster start for the term.  Also, WGU says once a student finishes a course and accelerates against the degree plan I should only have to speak with my student mentor every two weeks.  I’d prefer that schedule because I don’t want to worry about a weekly phone call every Thursday at lunch time, which is the current plan.

First submissions

I’ve read four chapters of Global Business today in around four hours.  Last night I submitted my first papers in Taskstream around 6:15 PM.  At the time the papers were 113 and 114 respectively in the queue.  I assume that is the queue to be graded.  Today at 5 PM the positions are 42 and 43.  For a Friday night and Saturday I should be pretty happy about the speed of processing.  I still want to find out whether I passed.  It would be nice to complete my first Tasks and course on the first attempt in the first week of the term.  Having already completed all the readings from one textbook as well, I feel better today about my progress.  While Global Business was an easy read, it was engaging and had interesting examples.  I know the next textbook, Principles of Economics, will be denser reading.  Hopefully I remember enough from college or have learned the various competencies while working.  If so, I will move through that material quickly as well. 

My enrollment call with my mentor was on Thursday.  The night before I sent her all my work for the first course and asked a few questions by email.  During the call she gave good answers and shared some insights.  She insisted that I have another call the same day with a course mentor.  Once all the coursework questions were out of the way we discussed enrollment in the term and my degree plan.  I had moved all the courses into one term the night before.  She informed me that she could only enroll me in three courses for the first term to start.  This is not a limit on what I’m allowed to complete but a standard for beginning the term.  This part of our conversation bugged me but I held it in.  I felt like my mentor was intentionally slowing me down.  Maybe it is WGU policy, but I think I’m capable of doing more and wanted to put it in the plan.  Maybe it protects me in case I don’t move as quickly through the courses. 

My student mentor initially started discussing the Managing Human Capital course and said this would be my next course to complete.  I stopped her and informed her I had already purchased textbooks and started reading for Global Economics for Managers.  She asked me what prior experience I had on the subject.  I told her I had two economics courses in undergrad and I work in Finance.  She agreed with my approach with some hesitation.  She mentioned most students found the HR course an easier starting point.  The default degree plan put the Econ course first, so I don’t know what made her suggest an alternative order for me.  Once that was agreed she set up the degree plan and approved it.  Next she asked me to check a box next to each course of the first term and click enroll.  Everything updated and it told me I was enrolled (with an exclamation point).  It was underwhelming considering how guarded the course enrollment process is.  Locks appeared next to the courses implying I’m now locked in to the first term plan. 

Later in the day I held a ten minute phone call with the course mentor who heavily suggested I amend Task 1 using a different leadership theory.  This made me a bit frustrated since the guidance has been so confusing and cost me so much time up to this point in the program.  Three rewrites due to poor instructions is excessive and has wasted hours of my time.  All the same I stayed up until midnight completing rewrites suggested for both Task 1 and 2.  I agree with the suggestions, especially since I prompted them with my own questioning of the approach and lack of clarity from the Chapter 15 text of Management.  Even though I agree and think my papers are better for the revisions, I know I could have completed everything more efficiently if the presentation of the Task requirements and text were both more clear and congruent in their terminology.  

Day 2

I read another chapter of Global Business. Afterward, while brushing my teeth, I walked through the six trade theories in my head, even remembering the names of each of the three classical and three modern theories including definitions and some examples.

I was slow to start studying because I wanted to see the ending of the Free Home show and eat homemade chocolate chip cookies.  Mostly I was slowed down by my kids not going to sleep.  At 8:30 my two-year old was still coming out of her room.  At dinner (late around 7:30) my wife told me she couldn’t deal with the kid and that I needed to.  So I immediately left my food on the table and dealt with said child.  I made multiple attempts to get her to bed but nothing worked until after my spouse had seen enough of the TV shows.  I was called away from my reading of chapter five tonight multiple times for kids and once to say goodnight to my wife before she went to bed.

My insight for the night is that unless I send a strong signal to my spouse she is not going to be able to let me study if the kids are not asleep.  This means immediately after putting kids to bed and eating dinner, I must go into the office and shut the door.  Being home and leaving the door open seems to send her a message that I’m not “really” studying.

First day of first term

Today is the first day of my first term with WGU.  No, I’m not counting the false start in August. WGU doesn’t count it!  It’s interesting because it’s the actual path I’m taking and reveals a loophole I stumbled on.  WGU operates on 6 month terms like an educational buffet—all the credits you can complete.  I have six months from today to finish as many courses in the MBA as I can manage.  Let the journey unfold.  I wrote the two essays for the first course during August thus completing the required work and as a nice perk, the textbooks I bought for the second course both arrived today.  I ordered the textbooks on Amazon on the 25th of August.  Both books are used, prior editions.  Global Business by Peng cost $5.52 after shipping and Principles of Economics by Mankiw cost $31.81.  The latest editions cost a ton more money.  Even though I plan on getting reimbursed by my employer, I’m trying new things here and trying to get an MBA as cheap and fast as I can.  I’m excited about the textbooks and take it as a good omen that exactly one week after ordering online I received the books.  I listened/read the first chapter of Global Business through Cengage last night and I’ve decided reading the text will be faster and easier on my eyes.  We’ll see how this goes and whether buying physical textbooks is really preferable for me.  Buying cheap, old edition, used textbooks is something that was less available to me in college.  That makes me feel old, but I did start college 14 years ago.  That quote from Good Will Hunting about getting the same education for a dollar something in late fees from the local library has been on my mind lately.  All the stuff I’m reading and studying and focused on lately has reinforced the idea that if I want to change my work then I need to pursue my own passions and learn for myself.  This next sentence might be a bit ironic considering I’m pursuing an MBA.  Following the socially acceptable paths to professional success will not bring me what I want.  Following the social norms will get me exactly where I am now.  That is part of the reason I’m trying out WGU and attempting to finish the MBA in the current manner.  If I document my path I can learn more than just the course material.  I can learn about myself, how I learn, my preferences, what doesn’t work, and other insights.  Also, competency based learning is still a term that is unknown to the masses.  It’s not in the mainstream.  Which I hope puts me on the cutting edge for once.  The old education model is broken and falling further behind.  Six months from now I hope to be an MBA success story with enough material to actually tell a story. 

False start, delayed enrollment a month

This month has been brutal at work.  I switched my enrollment to September because I was staying at work for such long hours.  I've been trying to write the papers required for the first course.  This week I was talking with my coworker about one paper and he mentioned it might not be a good idea to write about my current employer.  So I decided to toss my prior work on Task 1 and rewrite about a former employer.  No shortage of material there!  It’s just frustrating to start over.  I prefer to minimize the risk of writing something that is considered sensitive or insider information at my current employer.  While the risk is remote it would be unwise to ignore.  I was able to rewrite the first two sections of the paper in less time tonight.  I probably spent too much time researching the company history and I did get distracted by looking for executive compensation in their 10-K filing.

On a different note, the process to cancel my WGU payment plan and switch enrollment to September has been really easy.  The finance office was prompt and helpful on the phone - not wasting my time and taking care of everything in one call.  My student mentor took care of paperwork on her side without an extra phone call.  Further the enrollment advisor I previously spoke with called me yesterday and in five minutes ran through the enrollment interview and enrolled me in September.  I’ve spent very little time on administrative tasks since deciding to switch from August to September.  Since I decided prior to the 15th of the month I didn’t even get charged yet.  In fact they refunded my $55 payment plan setup fee even though I said I was still using a payment plan for September.  So far WGU has made everything very easy on my side and quite efficient.  I don’t remember the last time I thought of a school as being efficient.  Generally large institutions weigh you down in bureaucracy and waste your time. 

Mindset in approach to the MBA

I wanted to set this process into a blog format.  I’ve considered several approaches to the MBA program.  I worry that if I put too much time into monitoring and tracking how I approach the MBA, that I won’t spend enough time actually completing the MBA.  While I currently have no idea whether recording how I approach the MBA has any value for the future, my hope is that a benefit occurs through the process.  Additionally, I’m hoping that by investing some time in planning, tracking, and reviewing my approach to the MBA that I will learn tips, tricks, and tools that I can systematically apply to finish the MBA more quickly. Not long ago I heard someone ask a rhetorical question that really stuck with me.  They referred to your goal or that long term thing you’ve been thinking about doing sometime in the future.  Ask yourself, “How can you do that in six months?” I’ve been thinking seriously about getting an MBA for the last three years.  But I haven’t wanted to stop working or incur debt to get the degree.  When I started looking at online degrees more seriously I happened to stumble on an old paper I saved to my computer.  It was titled Hire Education and one of the authors is Clayton M. Christensen.  It mentioned WGU and competency based learning.  As soon as I started reading I was caught up in it.  Before I knew it I had shifted from asking myself to which two-year online program should I commit to how fast could I complete the MBA.  I’ve wanted a Master’s degree for years and it’s always been one of those amorphous goals hanging out in the future on an unknown timeline.  How can I get a Master’s degree in six months?  I’m hoping the answer is to complete an MBA from WGU.  WGU includes the graph below on their website regarding time to graduation for MBA graduates.

I’ve not looked at this graph in a while and for some reason thought they included a percentage that finished in 6 months.  It’s an expectation check, but still under a year is great.  We’re talking 15% of grads finish in less than a year.  Maybe I can finish in 6 months?  It doesn’t hurt to try.  It will never be possible if I believe that it isn’t.  I do have some key advantages.  I have some natural ability in writing and presenting and some of the more time consuming assessments fall in those categories.  Also two courses that use a multiple choice test include Accounting and Finance.  Those should be my specialty.  While other people would struggle with those subjects, I’ve already paid the price to learn both. The first two assessments are a 10-16 page and a 6-10 page essay.  Today I spent thirty minutes reading the assignments and making notes of the important points.  I can cover a portion of the material that gives me the talking points for the essays.  Everything else is bonus. 

I’ve listened to and thought greatly about the Pareto principle lately.  This is also known as the more familiar 80/20 Rule.  Twenty percent of the inputs result in eighty percent of the outputs.  Lately I’ve been wondering how I can apply this principle to my MBA. Competency based education is based on a pass or not-pass policy.  You retake the assessments until you pass (other considerations apply).  WGU says that a Pass on a course is equivalent to a B or higher grade.  Therefore, I need only an 80% on each assessment to pass the course.  I’ve got half of the Pareto principle covered there.  So what part of the material represents 20% of the effort required to get me a passing grade.  I intend to track what materials I use as I progress through the MBA and hopefully I’ll come up with a mathematical representation of inputs and outputs.  I’m interested to see whether I can apply the Pareto principle and by how much.

Another application of the Pareto principle is based on the recommended weekly time commitment suggested by WGU.  They recommend twenty hours on average or more per week of study.  In an interview between Tim Ferriss and Jane McGonigal, Jane said one indicator of addiction or harm could come from an activity where a person spent more than 21 hours per week.  Her comment came from a discussion of time spent playing video games but was applied more generally in context.  I had the thought that this would be another way to make this MBA more game-like and fun.  If I cap my study hours to 20 per week, can I get the requisite 80% to pass and complete the courses in the timeline I desire?  Let’s see! The term of 6 months rounds to 27 weeks. 27 weeks x 20 hours = 540 hours.  Can I earn an MBA in 540 hours?  I wouldn’t complain if I did.