Talk:Western Governors University: Difference between revisions

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Student Paced Learning

The contention that classes can only be added one at a time and existing classes must be completed first is inaccurate. When I was enrolled at WGU I frequently added multiple classes at a time, and there was no requirement that everything else be finished first. The following is from the WGU student handbook regarding "Satisfactory Academic Progress" which lays out the minimum requirement for course load:

Enrolled Competency Unit Requirements Undergraduate students must enroll in at least 12 competency units and graduate students must enroll in at least 8 competency units each term. Students receive a mark of Pass or Not Passed on their permanent academic record for any courses of study for which they enroll in a term, regardless of whether they attempt an assessment. Marks of Not Passed are counted as units that are failed and, as such, are counted against satisfactory academic progress. A grade of Pass indicates that the student has demonstrated competency at a grade equivalent of “B” or better.

Maintaining Satisfactory Academic Progress SAP is evaluated at the end of every term. To maintain SAP, students must pass a minimum of 67% of the competency units for which they enroll in a given term. They also must maintain an overall minimum cumulative pass rate of 67% for all competency units for which they enrolled. Students are prohibited from receiving federal financial aid for transferring or enrolling in more than 150% of the number of competency units required in their current academic program.

I couldn't find any reference in the student handbook regarding adding classes during a term, so I can only speak from my personal experience.

updates

I have removed the

as the page been updated and it is no longer written like an advertisement.

updates

I have created new definition for the university as it was not including full image about the university. & I also added references.

updates

ok folks, here what I have done so far, as of jan 06, 09

I added a photo for the university
I fixed the Faculty & Staff counter
added complete new sections: Academic offerings, Learning Environment, Competency-Based Learning, Rankings and reputation, explain University Accreditation in details

Please help improving this article by giving a better definition for the University.

Best regards —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.123.170.34 (talk) 04:57, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Don't list specific degrees here

Wikipedia is not an appropriate place to list all the degrees a school offers. The school's web site and marketing materials are the place for that. In this article it is more appropriate to list degree areas, rather than the dozens of specific degrees --Utahredrock 14:56, 26 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The NCATE accreditation

The actual date of NCATE accreditation came at their fall meeting on October 21 or 22nd, 2006. The NCATE press release is dated 10/31 refering to that decision made over a week earlier. The WGU press release came out in early November, after NCATE's. --Utahredrock 18:24, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Jacob Metro's comment posted 15 Feb 2007

Here are my recommendations for this article. First, check the establishment date indicated on the main page. I believe that the collaboration was begun sometime in 1995 though I can't find a date right now. This shows one reference for my suggestion of a 1995 creation date, "http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/2.2/news/briefs/wgu.htm".

Secondly, while it might seem marketing related, the kind and type of instruction/educational methods used need to be discussed in some detail because as these external sources show, WGU follows a competancy-based model as opposed to the traditional teacher-learner model: "http://chronicle.com/data/articles.dir/art-44.dir/issue-22.dir/22a02101.htm" "http://chronicle.com/data/articles.dir/art-44.dir/issue-22.dir/wgu.htm" "http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/innovator/2003/0306.html"

This is important in that WGU is the only university in the US at this time following the competancy model to be regionally accredited.

Finally, this article seems to be focused on the collaboration across political lines which is an important aspect to be considered. This is intended to show the broad governmental support in addition to the accreditation and business acceptance support functions comprising civic responsibility with regards to a new college or university.Jacob M Metro

Comment moved

I duplicated the entry, as I searched on "Western Governor's University" and recieved no hits. I deleted my entry, and added the content to this entry. Nobuddy —Preceding signed but undated comment was added at 15:32, 21 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Article references need work

The references in this article are a mess and could use some cleanup when somebody has the time.

The good news, however, is that there are plenty of them.--Utahredrock (talk) 13:38, 15 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Specialty of adult education

The opening line as of 7/15/08 seems problematic, even though it's sourced. What is "adult education?" It is not clear in that sentence. The term links to a separate Wikipedia article which itself seems too broad to accurately categorize WGU and WGU's students.

Somebody should re-write/clarify this.--Utahredrock (talk) 05:00, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Removed for now

As of 7/16/08 I cut out the following from the lead:

. . . specializing in adult education.

http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=783685

I haven't checked, but suspect some of those might be good references. Calling what WGU does "adult education" as stated above, is just too misleading.--Utahredrock (talk) 16:21, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

WGU grants degrees

The 2nd paragraph as of 7/15/08 begins with "WGU grants degrees"

This should be rewritten with more clarity, but should still retain brevity in summarizing the offerings of this school. Future editors need to refrain from listing all degrees, which happened on this page at least once before.

It may want to say something like "WGU offers bachelor's and master's programs, teacher licensure, and other teaching certificates" or something along those lines. In other words an editor needs to be more specific without listing every program/degree. Utahredrock (talk) 05:06, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

A new competency-based section?

Since WGU is so unique in its approach to higher ed it seems a longer treatment on what competency-based ed means at WGU would be useful.

How has WGU been a pioneer in this area? What external links are relevant to competency-based ed?

A separate and even longer article on competency-based ed in Wikipidia would be good too. There may already be something (probably is).--Utahredrock (talk) 06:51, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+==Student Paced Learning==
+The contention that classes can only be added one at a time and existing classes must be completed first is inaccurate.  When I was enrolled at WGU I frequently added multiple classes at a time, and there was no requirement that everything else be finished first.  The following is from the WGU student handbook regarding "Satisfactory Academic Progress" which lays out the minimum requirement for course load:
+''Enrolled Competency Unit Requirements
+Undergraduate students must enroll in at least 12 competency units and graduate students must enroll in at least 8 competency units each term. Students receive a mark of Pass or Not Passed on their permanent academic record for any courses of study for which they enroll in a term, regardless of whether they attempt an assessment. Marks of Not Passed are counted as units that are failed and, as such, are counted against satisfactory academic progress.  A grade of Pass indicates that the student has demonstrated competency at a grade equivalent of “B” or better.
+Maintaining Satisfactory Academic Progress
+SAP is evaluated at the end of every term. To maintain SAP, students must pass a minimum of 67% of the competency units for which they enroll in a given term.  They also must maintain an overall minimum cumulative pass rate of 67% for all competency units for which they enrolled. Students are prohibited from receiving federal financial aid for transferring or enrolling in more than 150% of the number of competency units required in their current academic program.''
+I couldn't find any reference in the student handbook regarding adding classes during a term, so I can only speak from my personal experience.
 ==updates==