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you said, would you hire a self taught nurse who passed assignments and exams with a pass. Some of the worlds greatest inventors, artists and musicians were self taught, ie Mozart, Einstein, Davinci. I suppose you would not want to be taught by any of these people. I am a recent grad of WGU in thier post bacc teachers prep program. I was able to accomplish this in 18 months, pregnant and having the baby. I can tell you it was not easy peasy and not so hard I gave up. I had access to course mentors in each course I took if needed, all of which were very knowledgable in the subject. All had higher level degrees or current or past educators themselves. All of the work you turn in is graded on a rubric scale of 1-4 just like a gpa scale. If any of your work receives a 2 in any area of the rubric you must revise your assignment. WGU will not pass you unless you are meeting a 3.0 average acrosse the board, that means nothing less than a 3, no Cs. Now I ask you what’s the difference between a doctor that graduated with all As and Bs in his anatomy and medical courses and one who recieved Cs and Ds. Yep theyre still doctors, so which is more knowledgeable. My host teacher praised my abilities and knowledge in education. I was informed that I started at a level much higher than other student teachers from the B&M university and was one of two of the best she had in her classroom. I also passes all of my Praxis and pedagogy exams on the first go. |
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There is really not much to say here other than how frightening this sort of attitude should be to those of us who worry about the quality of people teaching in our schools.
I do not mean that as any statement about the author but as a statement about the process she describes.
A part of what she says is fine … classroom teaching, especially in grade school, is a practical matter and apprentice style training is very important. IF WGU does a good job of oversight, I see no reason to think the author did nto get a great experience
The problem is the “if.” Given WGU’s claim that it does not need to employ faculty,who does oversee their apprenticeships?
Her claim that her mentors were experts also worries me. WGU’s claim to be able to do all this for very low fees is based n their claim that they do not need to employ experts. Rather they describe their “mentors” as coaches who help students choose and take standardized on line materials and tests. That seems to lead to a situation where I would expect the materials and tests are dumbed down so everyone can pass since a student who needs help understanding a concept would not have access to an expert faculty member.
As for the final paragraph, I would suggest that she would be unlikely to accept this style of education as adequate when she needs a a doctor.
As has been true of a number of these WGU students, the email address I received [email protected] is phoney.
Sad.