Three years after graduating with an Associates Degree in computer programming, I have chosen to return to school to pursue a Bachelors of Communication with an emphasis on journalism. Since I live near Atlanta, GA, I had an array of options to further my education. However, I also live a busy lifestyle and needed a school that could accommodate. Like many other student adults, I chose the University of Phoenix. However, it was no secret that the school's reputation has been called into question in recent years. As such, I decided to blog about my University of Phoenix experience. My hope is to assist others in making their decision from the first-hand experience of a student.
As of now, I am currently in the final week of my first class, which I am taking online. University of Phoenix assigns its students to one class per five week period, each of which begins on Tuesday. A broad subject relevant to the course is covered each week, with required learning activities and assignments grouped under sub-syllabuses of the main syllabus. These are easy to keep up with, as students can check off an activity as it is completed. A discussion accompanies each, encouraging and requiring students to discuss the topics among themselves. eBook versions of the required textbooks are also included within the online classroom, so there's no need to purchase those separately from your tuition.
Great emphasis is put on collaboration, and each student is placed within a learning team. The teams are encouraged to discuss class materials, help review each other's work, and, sometimes, collaborate on a project together. I have worked with academic teams in the past, but University of Phoenix enhances the experience with additional detail. If the group is to collaborate on a project, the team must draft a charter.
The online resources are as useful as they are expansive. A full eLibrary is included, complete with ebooks, articles, tutorials, workshops and videos. Popular publications, such as the "For Dummies" books, are included. The materials have already been reviewed prior to inclusion. And you can even research subjects that are completely unrelated to your major. This is probably the area that I am most impressed with so far.
Other alumni students have stated that the coursework seems rushed. It does go by pretty fast, but I think that's mostly due to the fact that you are only taking one class at a time, and they have to fit your cumulative classes within a certain timeframe for full-time status. So you only need to focus on one subject at a time.
Having transferred with an Associates degree, I already had most of my core classes out of the way. So, my first class (which I'm pretty sure is a universal one for all students) is GEN/201 - Foundations for University Success. It focuses on various attributes of successful people, including time and money management, collaboration, different types of intellects, having students identify their strengths, and so on. Some of the information was pretty much common sense, but I still found much of it to be useful and relevant.
Overall, I would say that my initial University of Phoenix experience has been a positive one. Of course, I'm still in the early stages, and have yet to see how much value my degree will have in the business world. I remain optimistic and will add more details about my University of Phoenix experience and the general flow of things in future posts. I'm sure there will be more topics to cover at later times.
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