WGU MSCSIA update.

[ChilliDawg]

DISCLAIMER: My experience at WGU is based from the perspective of being an I.T. Professional for over 20 years, and working for nearly 8 years in Corporate Cybersecurity Policy. Results may vary.(Thought I should note this after seeing another post raging about people disclosing fast completion times).

I decided to take a little time and make a contribution, here, as I have made very few within the past year.  If anyone is interested in the MSCSIA program at WGU, I hope this info helps.

My term started on 12/01/2019.  I am just a bit over 7 weeks into my first term, getting ready to close out my second month.  I have completed all requirements for my first term, in entirety, in 7 weeks.  That includes taking a week off for Christmas and doing absolutely NOTHING school related over the holidays.  Five courses, including orientation, are in my rear view mirror.

My mentor has opened several courses from my proposed second term and I am close to completing the course requirements for the second term, already.

If you are an I.T. professional, already, or have completed undergrad in CompSci or Cybersecurity, I highly recommend this program for anyone that needs to check the proverbial Masters box, or would like to move quickly through a program based on your existing experience.

Here are some observations from the program so far:

1)  Pre-assessments do not reflect the actual content of the final Objective Assessment.  Before my term started, I was given access to every pre-assessment for every class.  I passed every pre-assessment in one day.  I later found out that this did not necessarily mean you would pass the final O.A.  I became cocky with my very first class, and decided that I was going straight to the O.A. immediately after passing the pre-assessment.  I failed.  LOL!  Once you fail an O.A., your instructor gets involved, and he\she will set benchmarks that you need to complete in order for him or her to open the exam up again.  I find the Knowledge Checks in the course material, and the flashcards to be a much better gauge of my readiness for the exam.  I have not failed one since that first attempt.

2) Proctoring is done through Examity, and I find their proctoring much quicker to set up and get through the verification process than Proctor U.  I love the fact that I can schedule a test less than a half hour before I decide to take it.  I have come home from work on a Friday night, and decided on a spontaneous whim that I was ready for the test.  Login to Examity, schedule my test for 45 minutes later, and BAM!  Test is complete and passed 90 minutes after deciding to take it. 

3)Some courses require writing projects.  They are called Performance Assessments.  I fully expected them to be APA or MLA format writing projects, much like the TESU Capstone.  Not even close for this program.  All writing projects, so far, have been templates that they provide, and you simply fill out.  As long as spelling and basic format is good, you are not going to fail it on mechanics.  I fully expect that this program's Capstone will be more difficult.  Writing projects in this program are graded very quickly.  I have had one submission graded in under two hours.  The longest has taken 8 hours.  None have ever taken even close to a day.  Re-submissions for fixes are also done quickly.  Two to three hours in my case.  In my opinion, this is not "writing".  It is nothing more than filling out a form.  However, you do have to come up with the material on your own, many times at a High-Technical level.  One project, I built a database solution using HAPROXY front ends, SQL Server in Highly Available configurations, etc.  Once that was created, I had to score the risk based on a DREAD scoring system.  I did it in less than a day, and passed on first submission. Keep in mind, this is a "policy" targeted course, and not strictly science or technical. Writing assessors are looking for you to hit Rubric goals, and not looking for technical accuracy. I have heard of many Redditors that have taken the course, and passed these writing assignments on totally fictional, made up hardware. The Rubric wasn't necessarily looking for you quote a real Dell Server model. It was looking for you to address the Rubric point of WHAT concept or policy that your proposal addressed. Example: "I am proposing two Dell Servers with 2019 SQL in an availability group to address the CIA Triad concept of Availability". The assessors are looking for the last portion of that sentence. They could care less if the Dell Server or if SQL 2019 actually exists. Or, in one case if you quote Windows 2019 Server, you might be doing it to address a requirement to keep an existing client on Windows platform, per their executive staff. Your sentence needs to say WHY you picked Windows, in detail. WRITE YOUR PAPERS TO THE RUBRIC. In many instances, the assessors are not even subject matter experts on the course.

4) Mentoring in my case, has been very good.  My mentor is relatively local to me and we can talk about neighborhood landmarks and other common points of interest.  Not sure if they have lots of mentors that are local to the students or if this was just a coincidence in my case.  I meet with my mentor once a week on the phone.  Meetings are seldom more than 15 minutes.  I have only consulted with an instructor once.  They were helpful and accommodating, as well as VERY easy to get in touch with.

5) Ask your instructor questions!!!!!!!!!!!  Not that you necessarily might need the help, but they know secrets that are super helpful.  My mentor keeps pushing me to talk to the instructor more.  Reason being, I am doing WAY more on my writing projects than needs to be done.  There have been some writing assignments that had very vague instructions.  I literally wrote three times the material needed.  Not knowing that an instructor would have told me to scale it back to proposing ONE system upgrade and not the THREE that I did.  The rubric said to do all three.  My instructor said that one proposal would have done the trick and passed. 

In summary, I love the Proficiency Model that WGU offers.  As a full time working father of three boys, it is incredible.  I would never want my kids to do it, at this point in their lives. They need the social interaction and structure that campus life offers.  But, for us old timers..........this is awesome.

I am positive that I could finish this program in one term, but I am giving myself two terms.  I hope to finish in the second month of the second term.  I believe it can be done without breaking too much of a sweat.

If anyone has specific questions about the program of classes, please feel free to send me a message, or ask it right here in the forum.

Thanks for listening.