Need Early preparation for BLS with Project management as a minor

[dfrecore]

There isn't a way to prepare for the courses in advance. The courses don't use textbooks. All of the course content will be on the learning platform. The quizzes are in the course content as well. All of the answers to the quizzes are found in the course content. The instructions for the Final Assessment are found in the course. No one will give them to students unless they are enrolled in a course. You took classes on Sophia and UMPI's learning platform is similar.

If you have time and want to prepare for a degree, it's not hard to see why someone might want to get some familiarity with the course content beforehand.  Being somewhat familiar with terms and definitions may help someone get through faster.  Learning something when you already have familiarity with it is actually really good for your brain - you create new pathways and it "sticks" better.

It's like someone who is planning on getting an MBA but doesn't have a lot of the pre-reqs (and not being required to take them) go ahead and spend some time learning them anyway.  It just makes the MBA a bit easier.  It certainly cannot hurt to pre-learn some material.

I took a math course this term, and a lot of it was review, so I felt like the stuff I already knew went very well, and the stuff that was completely new was a much smaller portion of the course, and I felt like it was very easy to learn it because I was in "math mode."

Again, wanting to brush up or study ahead is a great idea for people.  It may not cover exactly what is covered in the course, but it cannot HURT to do this.

But you don't know what will be covered in the course! Many of the sources suggested on here are total overkill for UMPI courses. Their business courses are not challenging. Everything you need is in the course. You have to write the Final Assignments to the course content as well.

So wanting to actually learn about Project Management is a bad idea just because it might not be covered in a particular course?  Or learning some terminology is not smart?  I just don't get why you're discouraging this. Obviously, the person doesn't HAVE to do this, but it's not a terrible idea to do so.  Maybe they enjoy learning.  Maybe they're intimidated and think that having a little knowledge prior to the start of school will help. Who knows.  Whatever the case, learning is NEVER a bad idea!!

[bjcheung77]

@OTmina, do you have time within the month to "preview" and "self learn" project management or relevant courses? Have you finished your Sophia.org subscription? I understand this really isn't what you were looking for, as you were looking to "initiate early work in order to be able to complete 10 classes as fast as you can".

Since there isn't really a way to get started before your enrolment date, that's the only time I would recommend spending any energy on previewing courses, otherwise you'll be too busy during the session to work on anything else. I agree with previewing and self learning before the session starts if you have the time, I would refrain from that once the session starts.

If you were NOT going to UMPI or another CBE degree provider but the Big 3, I would have recommended the same OER open education resources such as Saylor, etc. This is because you can take your time completing your ACE/RA credits and during breaks between semesters before you enroll in the Big 3, you can preview and learn some new concepts on courses you'll be taking.

If you're going for a CBE program such as UMPI, taking time previewing courses or OER textbooks would not be energy or time efficient. Think of them as Davar courses/exams, all the course material are within the pdf/slides, the textbooks are a secondary resource and not really needed. It's like asking yourself to read extra info when all you need are the pdf/slides.

Another example to this is for people taking TECEPS, they have recommended textbooks, for example an obsolete exam, the Strategic Management TECEP. Within the book, they have chapters and case studies, you would just need to review the chapters, there really isn't a need to spend the extra energy/time reading the case studies. It's great to know about them, but not needed at all...

So, you do your thing, what ever it may be... if you do decide to "review something", what I was going to suggest is if you still have a Sophia.org membership going, take the Project Management course but ask for it to not be transferred into UMPI. I would supplement that with the Saylor.org course and exam, again ask for it not to be transferred, you want the knowledge only and ACE credit. When the term starts, drop everything Sophia.org/Saylor.org and focus only on your classes (time management baby!)...

[dfrecore]

I was not implying that anyone should continue on with outside work while doing the UMPI courses; I was simply saying that if you wanted to spend some time studying and getting up to speed on vocabulary and concepts in Project Management, and you have the time to do so, to go ahead and do that PRIOR to your first course.

Once the term at UMPI starts, of course you should drop everything else and get going on the UMPI classes as that takes priority over everything else.