a little WGU MBA review....

[rebel100]

Until the last couple of weeks there just hasn't been much to report on my MBA progress. I know I've said it before in this thread but the best thing about the WGU MBA is the self paced start and stop when you want nature of the program...its also the worst thing as my short pauses tend to become longer and longer. If I could fill the empty spaces with a little school work I would have been done months ago. On the other hand spreading it out over 12 plus months actually meant I was able to access employer tuition reimbursement over three separate periods (a fluke of the accounting year), so I'm not really adding personal cost just time. If I can finish before February 28 the MBA will still be essentially free.

My biggest hurdle is that tragedy befell my manager at work, he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in March. I have taken up his duties along with my own. I've gone from supervising 8 employees to managing a department of 30. The hospital I work for is also within its joint commission review window so we are all engaged in heavy regulatory compliance issues nearly every day...frankly its an incredible period of professional growth for me...so when the studies suffer because I'm busy at work its really for a good personal cause. I only wish my boss and friend was here to do it with me, I wish him a speedy recovery and I'm amazed and inspired by the way he has faced this illness...really a great guy. My thoughts and prayers go out to him daily. It feels strange to be benefiting personally from the illness of someone you care about.

Now the review continues...

I was selected by my student adviser to participate in a "cohort" approach to the Decision Analyses course. Supposedly by invitation only, this amounts to twice weekly mandatory online meetings and should result in completing this difficult course in 5 weeks start to finish. I'm two weeks in and should finish the second of 4 tasks today...I have missed interaction with instructors, this cohort method is a lot more like traditional online school....yeah I just called online school traditional haha. The cohort has connected me with instructors and classmates like nothing else I've done at WGU. I think some of this should be required in the program. The Decision Analyses course itself is centered around using various information points to arrive at accurate business predictions. We are learning inventory management, assembly line balancing, staffing plans, line cues, short and long term scheduling, layout strategies, and learning curves. Probably ranks up there with Finance in terms of providing me with new and useful knowledge. Its tough at times, but i know I'm better for being in this course.

I'm also tackling Organizational Management right now. I tried to sneak this one in before Decision started...but the first Task was sent back to me for revision a record 4 times! Comical that I completed my undergrad with Organizational Behavior Courses from CSU-Pueblo applied to my COSC concentration in Organizational Leadership! I mean seriously, all of this stuff was old news, all ambiguous feel good nonsense...and it stopped me cold in my tracks. I just couldn't seem to figure out what the Taskstream graders wanted. The Course Mentor finally came to my rescue with multiple emails and one long phone call full of guidance. With her help Task 1 was finally approved. She offered a "boot camp" for Task 2 which promised completion of that task in 1 week...I took the boot camp and passed Task 2 with no trouble first attempt. I'm trying to slug through Task 3 (the final task) on my own (no boot camp for it till next month). I hope to have this course completed this week, that will leave 2.5 weeks or so till Decision Analyses completion and they will together mean 6 credits completed...and only two course to go to complete my MBA at that point, Strategic and Capstone.

So things are progressing, I'll try to keep you updated.

Best,
Rebel