JTP's WGU MS CSIA Update Thread

[jsd]

Mike in the TA office at WGU is the man!!! He helped me get everything squared away with the school. My tuition assistance showed up Friday and I was cleared for the semester. I'm hoping to complete all of the mandatory orientation over a couple evenings this week so I can hit the ground running next week when my term starts.

The orientation was super easy. An evening or two will not be a problem.

[JTP]

Ok, way past due for an update!

Life has been insanely busy the past month or so. I did get in the orientation early and got access the weekend before my term started.

When choosing my first courses my mentor informed me Cyberwarfare was the course all of his students had the most trouble with and the one that always took the longest...so I decided to take it first. My initial thought being that if I can tackle this everything else should be a breeze. Now granted I have been extremely busy at work and home the past month, I have found the course to be a nice challenge. It may have been overkill, but I've read the majority of the textbook, and just submitted the first paper this evening. Currently 134 in queue for grading, so I'll let the forum know how it went in a day or so.

Overall I like the course and the format so far. It was a little overwhelming at first grasping all of the various web portals and where content was located but you pick it up quickly. I had two questions I wanted clarified on course material and the course mentor responded within 2 hours each time.

[JTP]

Task 1 was graded late Wednesday/ early Thursday and needed revisions in two sections. Very minor stuff and was able to fix it in 10 minutes and get it resubmitted Friday. Second Eval came in today and was accepted. Now on to Task 2.

[JTP]

Task 2 was much longer than task 1. I was pleasantly surprised when it met all requirements the first time through.

Task 3 on the other hand was the shortest paper for the course and took me 3 submissions to get through.

I'm starting to really understand people's frustration with Taskstream. I feel my end product wasn't nearly the level of the original. I literally copied a couple paragraphs from one section and pasted it in another for it to pass the last time. And I mean I just pasted it, flow was extremely rough, but because the content was in section x and not section y it passed.

Meh.

JIT2 is underway and only has 1 large paper.

[jsd]

How is the course content so far? Acceptable, or leaving a lot to be desired?

I heard a horror story of a case study from the program being a Windows 95 era story, presented as if it was relevant to present day Cybersecurity. Has this kind of thing been your experience so far?

[JTP]

How is the course content so far? Acceptable, or leaving a lot to be desired?

I heard a horror story of a case study from the program being a Windows 95 era story, presented as if it was relevant to present day Cybersecurity. Has this kind of thing been your experience so far?

It's pretty solid!

I had relevant material for my course. The textbook was written in 2015, so there might be some very recent stuff left out of it, but overall it was up to date (No Windows 95).

I really enjoyed the research on industrial control systems and the history of cyberwarfare.

[jsd]

Nice. Thanks for doing this thread, it's nice to follow along.

[JTP]

Just submitted my paper for JIT2 Risk Management and I am number 238 in the queue :ack:. As previously mentioned this course only has one paper for the class...but it was 18 pages.

The course really wasn't bad at all. If you have had a risk management course before this was mostly review. The paper was easier to complete than the ones for Cybersecurity. The course mentor had an excellent template to follow and she even put in her own helpful notes like, "Make sure to emphasize such and such here."

Due to Taskstreams...quirks...I really just read the rubric for the section I was working on and quickly laid out my information. I've been writing papers for a while now and am confident with my academic writing ability. BUT I feel it is more beneficial for me to just get a "draft" out there to be graded and then clean everything up on my second submission. We'll see how that approach goes after I get my results back.

[JTP]

The paper for Risk Management came back with a PASS!

I'll start reviewing the rubrics and assigned readings for Cyberlaw over the next couple days, but family vacation starts Thursday so no schoolwork over the weekend.

[JTP]

Default: I'm late on an update opener.

Ok, Cyberlaw was super dry for me! If you like reading different federal regulations you will love this class. 

Work got/is insanely busy so this last course for my semester went pretty slow. I did pass it before the end of my term in July.

Since then I was told I was eligible for a special scholarship at my organization that will pay for all of my tuition and fees along with 1 day off a week paid to do school work...I know insanely awesome! The catch is that it doesn't kick in until January 2018. I talked to WGU and got special permission to take a 5 month term break instead of the usual 3 so I don't have to un-enroll before the scholarship kicks in. 

In the mean time till then I have been super busy studying for the CISSP credential. For those that don't know the exam, it is kind of the gold standard in IT Security. For perspective, my last two major career education goals are my Masters' and the CISSP cert...and I will be more excited for the cert than the masters'. It has a less than 50% pass rate and instantly gives a holder great respect from the IT community.