Well today completes week 2 of my Ashford University experience. I have to admit that the discussion questions this week threw me a curve ball. Normally I can finish all of my discussion questions within a couple of hours, but one had a series of practice exams (23 or 24 to be exact) which test my proficiency with the APA format for research papers. That question alone took a couple of days. As it turns out, it looks like all of my papers are going to be required to have APA formatting so if you are looking into Ashford University, be forewarned if you are like me and more MLA oriented.
I went out and purchased the APA rulebook and guidebook, referenced in my previous posts and they helped a little. The texts required by Ashford, such as the Little Brown Compact Handbook is okay for an overall reference guide but nothing is as accurate as the material from the primary source in my opinion. In this case the American Psychological Association.
I will say that I have had a lot more interaction with my instructor this week than last. I posted a couple of questions on the Blackboard and she answered them within a few hours. I received feedback on my paper that was helpful and some on my discussion board that confused me concerning the Academic Policies handbook, which she thought was located on the student information page but wasn't. She was very quick in answering my emails and when I told her it wasn't there she researched the problem and posted it in the course content documents. I found this fairly impressive because not only was she responding to my emails and postings rather quickly and thoroughly, but she followed up when she said she would almost immediately. Maybe I'm more oriented towards dealing with overwhelmed or under interested professors, but I have found this type of communication and action to be exceptional given my previous educational experiences (excluding Southwestern College of course).
As for my classmates, I said earlier that we have a lot of diversity; as such we don't always see eye to eye on some topics (like politics) but everyone is very articulate and respectful. It's nice to be able to debate and get countering points of view without the dialogue giving birth to an argument. I've also been pretty impressed with some of the postings of my peers, some have even been better than mine (I know, I was shocked too), but seriously, the caliber of people I have found in my MBA class has certainly shown a separation between undergraduate and graduate quality of work on average. Not that I am trying to diminish the skills or quality of work that undergrads put in, I've seen some exceptional work there as well, it's just not as commonplace it seems to be at the grad level, at least in this class.
My student advisor also called me again this week to make sure that everything was good. I did have a couple of questions which he answered which involved the "student portal" which is password protected. I'm not sure what it is but it seems to be the place where you watch your financial aid transactions, get grades, transcripts, etc. I guess I'll be getting in there on week 3.
My degree plan and final acceptance into the school also came through this week. Though my degree plan was wrong, it had me down for a "General Business" concentration instead of "Organizational Leadership". I wrote the educational advisor back stating it was wrong and called my student advisor (two different people) and told him. He said it would be an easy fix and shouldn't affect my schedule.
Have I learned anything this week? You bet and here it is.
- 1.) I've got to use Monday for discussion questions to keep on track. My discussion questions are usually due by the 3rd day of class and papers at the end of the week. By taking Monday off I'm kind of screwing myself. So perhaps I'll start taking Saturday and Sunday off instead of Sunday and Monday.
- 2.) I assumed the discussion questions would be quick critical thinking types of posts, but when I hit that one with the 23 or 24 exams before posting a discussion question, my dreams of expediting the work flew out the window. The work will be more involved than I originally assumed.
- 3.) My instructor seems to be very involved which is good.
- 4.) My peers seem to be fairly intelligent. It encourages me to push myself a little harder.
Wish me luck for week 3.