CLICK ME to go to WGU
“I’m going to Western Governors University”
CLICK ME to go to WGU
We all know that teachers can have a huge impact on a child’s future.
I e-mailed WGU for more information, and a courteous “enrollment counselor” quickly responded to recruit me. He was kind in his tone, and very supportive of my future.
The only question I had was, “who are the teachers?” So I e-mailed him back asking for a link to find out who would teach me and what their qualifications were. Sadly, he responded, “we do not have such a link.” But, he asked me to call.
On the phone, he was very helpful and kind. I asked again about a link to know who were the professors. Here’s a rough transcript of our conversation:
WGU: “We don’t have a link for professors.”
Me: “So how do I know who is going to teach me?”
WGU: “To know you could try the records department, but that’s not information we have to give out. We’re a private nonprofit.”
Me: “Why?”
WGU: “Because we’re private. We don’t just release that information.”
Me: “So how do I know who will be my teachers.”
WGU: “We don’t have teachers. We have mentors. Mentors don’t teach your classes. You’re learning on your own.”
Me: “So there are no teachers?”
WGU: “There are mentors but they don’t teach you the course. You have your book, your syllabi. You have to pass the final assessment.”
Me: “What are mentors?”
WGU: “They’re like your life coaches through the program. They do not help with the classes.”
Me: “What if I don’t understand the material? Will my mentor help me learn it?”
WGU: “If you don’t understand, you call your mentor, and your mentor will provide you resources—a link, a module, a webinar, something like that.”
In short, Western Governors University is not an institution of higher learning. Earlier we pointed out that online higher education is to real education what online religion and online sex are to real churches and loving relationships. Teaching, like religion and love, is based on trusting relationships.
But the problem with WGU is even worse than we thought: WGU is not committed to teaching students! Studies make clear that good teachers have a huge impact on student development. Yet, there are no teachers, only “mentors” who have a list of links, modules, and webinars.
Would you send your son to a hospital staffed with WGU’s online health degree graduates?
Would you want your daughter to be educated in a school made up WGU’s teachers, especially given how little WGU values teachers?
Of course, what employer will value a degree from an institution that is ashamed to publicize who will be teaching its students? A degree’s value comes from the confidence businesses have that students have undergone a meaningful process of learning under demanding, qualified teachers.
More important, this sounds like a way for the state to gain more graduates without having to educate. Some of the poorest Washingtonians—those who don’t realize that they’re paying for worthless stuff—will enroll, spend their money, receive their degree, and then realize that they have wasted their time learning little for a degree with low market value. It’s not just cheap. It takes advantage of some of the most vulnerable, who deserve better.
We might as well make Wikipedia an official state university. And if you have problems, the mentor is waiting. His name is Google. This would be even cheaper than WGU.
UPDATE
House Bills 1822 / 5136 would allow the state to declare that Western Governors University, an online-only institution, is a “public” university in Washington State.
This is a fraud on the people of WA state.
Johan Neem’s account shows that WGU hsd not way of assuring the academic quality of the courses it offers, mush less any way to help students deal with challenging subject matter.
WGU provides less support for student learning than any of our community colleges.
There are certainly valuable ways to use the web to both cut costs and improve education. This is not one of those ways. BF Skinner, the great pioneer of programmed instruction, taught his own course in behavior using a teaching machine, buit Skinner and Hollander put huge effort into monitoring how students did on each toem and then offered an equal amount of time for seminars.
WGU, however, appears to be a fraud. Either it offers Mickey Mouse courses that no one can fail or .. as is the case for its for profit peers, WGU is a ponzi scheme .. collecting tuition from students most of whom will not finish. Even those who do finish are likely to be ill prepared for any job.
It is sad when a school that is self directed, e.g. featuring a model that sets standards for what should be known but allows the student access to any number of other avenues for learning it, is called a ‘fraud’, or uses ‘on your own’ as an insult.There are tens of thousands of home schooled kids that would differ with your assessment of self-directed learning. As for the non-professor model? I am learning the same material in my IT and networking courses as my brick and mortar counterparts ( in many cases more material) yet I don’t have the fight with the ideological, pedogological idiocy of an entrenched faculty member that only knows how to teach one way. My course work comes from MS and Cisco, just like that coursework of my B/M peers-the only difference is that if I master subnetting in a week I don’t have to spend 2 more weeks spinning my wheels waiting for the syllabus to catch up to me. Oh horrors.
What person ever, knows where their doctor or EMT graduated? Or their teachers in grade school or high school? A degree’s value is based in whether or not the student receiving it can demonstrate the skills necessary to have earned it. My employer couldn’t have cared less that my B.S. was from a highly ranked Midwestern private liberal arts college. Could I do the job? Had I managed small teams? Did I fit the office culture? Did I have a current or former security clearance? None of these things were picked up in any of my classes at Doane, Hastings College, Dana College, or would be gained from UW. I got them from application of skills, the US Army, and learning on my own.
Cedric
Do not put words in my mouth.
I do not think I have used the word “fraud” in re WGU, but if I did it would not be in the context you offer.
I have nothing but respect for self learning. FWIW I am self taught in several areas .. history, causal analysis, photography, and coastal navigation. I have gone onto teach in two these .. photography in the Cal. higher ed system and navigation in the US Coast Guard Auxiliary.
To the extent that WGU encourage people to complete certification, I have no problem at all. Nor do I have any problem with non academic credentials .. e.g. I believe our high schools would be a LOT better off is they employed more faculty whose credentials are real world. Frankly I am VERY skeptical of the credentials based on anjy Ed degree .. WGU or any other. Same goes for WGU’s nursing degree to the extent it enables RNs w/o degrees to use their work experi8ence to get advancement.
BUT .. and this is upper case BUT.
I do think charging 6000 to encourage folks to taker courses offered by Microsoft is fraudulent unless you can show me that the cost of the ms costs is greatly reduced because WGU gets a good deal and passes that onb. Even then I know many businesses pay for such certification.
I also see a HUGE difference between the intent of a Bach or Masters degrees and the intent of certification programs. For example, a BS in phsics or even in physics education HOPEFULLY means that the student has done more than take ed courses with a smattering of science. To teach physics ESP at the secondary level, a teacher needs to have an understanding of geometry anbd calculus .. neither of which WGU can offer. Such understanding is nto obtainable only from online course work because it means working out problems in ways unique to each of us … something computer based coursework is far from ready to do. This is even more true at the level of laboratory. Science labs are experiences. While there may be a few more Edisons out there, few of WGU students are going to be able to experience work their way through the discovery experience w/o having a teacher.
Finally I am more than aware that our ed schools do a lousy job of preparing people to teach HS science. I also know, however, that ed schools offer MAT degrees to allow folks with real world experience in science to acquire the extra credentials required to teach. What WGU does instead is water thing down to the minimum required to get credentialed.
At WGU, a college drop out with no experience in science3 could get certified to teach HS, without ever working in any lab and without ever trying to understand how Newton’s law f=ma was dependent on the delta epsilon values in calculus.
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Right on!
However and, from this point of view, all you really need from WGU is a certificate ..sort of a GED at the college or masters level that recognizes that life experience and level of competence.
IF an Higher ed GED is what WGU is really about, I would applaud that. That, however, does not explain the $6,000/yr tuition.
So tell me this …
1. would WGU grant you a degree if you showed “competence” in IT, including comnpletion of coursework outside their business?
2. while I respect your real world experience, how does WGU determine that you have been productive in the work setting? Do they require documentation from your employer?
It seems to me that there are MUCH better ways for WASTATE to meet the need you describe. Why not, for example, require the uW to offer degrees by experience? A student could assemble evidence that he or she had the equivalent of .. say a doctorate in biology. The UW would, for a fee, evaluate the evidence and either define requirements for the degree or award it based on the achievements.
It seems to me that such a process could be no more expensive than the 6,000/yr WGU requires. As an example, my own wife has more than fulfilled the requirements for a PhD while working in labs at the UW. Under my HEED (Higher Education Equivalent Degree) sher would be able to apply for that degree and be recognized for her achievements.
If we want