Summer 2022 Session 1 -- What is YOURPace?

[ashkir]

Summer 2022 session 1 is coming quickly! This will be between Monday May 9, 2022 to Friday July 1, 2022. This is a total of 53 days this time (7.5 weeks, with .5 reserved for the final grading). You are able to submit any assignment until 11:59 PM EST on the 1st of July. 

Join your fellow YourPace classmates in this thread or over at the YourPace discord https://discord.gg/d9pcfCBq27 and help create an awesome online student experience! <3

Don't forget! Alumni Award nominations are open for a few more weeks! Nominate a YourPace member that has inspired and helped you! There's not much recognition on YourPace but you can help create it! https://www.umpi.edu/alumni/awards/

Is it too late to apply?
The next application deadline is June 30, 2022. 

It is highly recommended to have a lot of ACE credits before you apply! 

If you're applying, feel free to tell UMPI where you found us when you talk to them (Ashkir's name is St Nicholas). DegreeForum they're also aware of. Facebook, Sophia, etc. They spend a lot of money marketing. Tell them where their market is  

Is UMPI right for me?
If you are self-motivated, yes. If you need a counselor pushing you every step of the way, no. If a family member or spouse can push you, then yes. UMPI takes almost ALL ACE Credits.

What is UMPI?
The University of Maine at Presque Isle (pronounced Presk Isle), which abbreviates themselves to UMPI (and pronounced Umm Pe), is a publicly funded state school by the University of Maine system in the far north of the contiguous United States bordering New Brunswick and French-Canada in Aroostook County, Maine. 

Connect with your Class:
Connect with your class here on DegreeForum by discussing your classes here and offering support to your fellow students. Encourage your fellow students, cheer them on, be proud of them! 

You can also join the class on a dedicated YourPace Discord here: https://discord.gg/2QVzWm5JRr

What does the diploma look like? Is it real? Are there graduation fees? Etc.
There are no graduation fees at UMPI. Their diploma is the same for all students that attend UMPI and they do include your Latin Honors on it. This thread by Ashkir will show you photos of the diploma. Latin honors are as:

• Cum Laude 3.5 to 3.69 GPA
  
• Magna cum Laude 3.7 to 3.89 GPA
  
• Summa cum Laude 3.9 GPA and up. 
  

Course Design / Grading
All courses have chapter content to read with a lot of infographics, videos, and more throughout it. From that point on a course may have:

• Assessment Quizzes that skip your knowledgeable areas.
  
• Milestone discussions where you need to respond to a writing prompt from your professor.
  

Quiz Tips
If your final is a multiple choice exam, spend more time on the quizzes. Purposely get questions wrong. This will cycle through the entire test bank where you can read the explanations in an "explain like I'm five mode" and it'd condense down your study material/reviews where you can focus on the explanations for studying. Almost every question (at least 90%) will be a rephrased question from a Quiz. 

The quiz will start repeating questions, and at that point get the ones that repeated right, and then get the next set wrong, etc. There's usually 2 to 3 quiz banks in each quiz, each with around 6-10 questions each, for a total of around 20-30ish total questions in each quiz. 

Essay Final Tips
Outside of English, UMPI professors do not really care about proper essay structure, as long as your introduction and conclusion is strong. The instructions are incredibly detailed. But, be sure to check the rubric and ensure that all the rubric requirements in section 4 (explementary) are meant. By meeting all of the highest grade possible rubric sections, you're guaranteed an A. 

Utilize the DRAFT feature and get feedback from your professor. 

While waiting on a professor to respond on your draft, ASK FOR A NEW CLASS if you have a lot of time left! Simply email Jessica and say "Hi Jessica, I submitted my final for class XXX, can I start on another one now? Thank you!" 

Discussion Boards & Learning Journals
Discussion boards and learning journals are not required and if you don't want to do it, don't. But, if you don't understand the topic well, I recommend you do them to gain more practice. 

To estimate your grade add your rubric scores up: 
3 out of 4
3 out of 4
4 out of 4
4 out of 4
4 out of 4
18 out of 20

18/20 = 90%

Percentage / GPA tracker: 
A+ 97-100% - 4.0 
A 93-96% - 4.0
A- 90-92% - 3.7
B+ 87-89% - 3.3
B 83-86% - 3.0
B- 80-82% - 2.27

Contacts
Need help? 
Contact the Assistant Director of YourPace, Jessica Winslow! She will also do your audit. Only email her when you need a class added or have a question about your audit. jessica.b.winslow@maine.edu

Academic Coach is Cody Humphrey who will be there to assist you with any technical issues or broken things in YourPace. cody.humphrey@maine.edu 

If you need to escalate anything, the dean is Dr. Susan Chang, PhD susan.chang@maine.edu. 

How to support your class?

• Cheer fellow students on! 
  
• Don't put down other students.
  
• Ask questions (but be nice!).
  
• Encourage others to make a great education choice. UMPI may not be for everyone. 
  

This is meant to be a gross general topic about anything relating to UMPI for Fall Session 2 Students.

• Are you starting this session? 
  
• What do you plan on taking?
  
• What classes are you taking?
  
• How are you feeling?
  
• Any classes causing frustration?
  
• What did you pass?
  
• What are you learning?
  
• What are you doing?
  

Share your experience with our forum so future students and UMPI's staff that reads this forum can see how we feel! Please feel free to rant, get a breath of fresh air, ask for advice, and more here. We're all here to make sure we're all successful. Support your fellow students and graduates, and graduates support the students that were once in your shoes! 

Keep us updated on YourPace.

[ss20ts]

Good luck everyone!

Is anyone doing the MAOL?

[kidneysmasher]

I started today on SPA101. I am coming in with two Masters and two Bachelors. To be honest I am just trying to use up my GI Bill money and I really enjoy History so here I am. I plan to take SPA 1 and 2 and at least 3 history classes this term.

I do have a question. I started early this morning on Spa101 and I just submitted the final. Did I complete the class too fast? I'm not a native speaker, but did grow up in South Texas.

[Kab]

As spanish native speaker I took several courses related to spanish in different institutions in the US. Usually if you know the subject you can do it quickly. The same for german. So i would dare to generalize in this case and say it can be normal in the most basic language course that you are already proficient in. If you have a solid learning experience, it can be even quicker.

[ss20ts]

I started today on SPA101. I am coming in with two Masters and two Bachelors. To be honest I am just trying to use up my GI Bill money and I really enjoy History so here I am. I plan to take SPA 1 and 2 and at least 3 history classes this term.

I do have a question. I started early this morning on Spa101 and I just submitted the final. Did I complete the class too fast? I'm not a native speaker, but did grow up in South Texas.

Nope not too fast. Make sure you submitted the Milestones. Did you submit a rough draft for the Final Assessment? Or just the final submission?

[bjcheung77]

@kidneysmasher, that's awesome, you finished a Spanish course at UMPI within a day! Wow, I guess that education plus growing up or at least immersing yourself with that language while growing up helps! As long as you complete their final assessments and assignments with flying colors, it really doesn't matter how "fast" you're going, there's never an indicator you're going too fast.

[ashkir]

Honestly I felt the French was easish minus the speaking parts (which they waived for me). Because I took 2 years of it in high school.

In some states (like where I live) having foreign language in HS can waive the requirement at college. But that's not a thing in Maine for UMPI I guess lol

[kidneysmasher]

I'm not a native speaker, but I grew up in San Antonio and adapted myself in the rich Spanish culture. Still speak like a gringo. Hopefully, I did the first course correctly so I can move to SPA 2. My wife also started with UMPI yesterday and she is taking SPA 1 as well. She also submitted the final yesterday. She is fluent though and blew through it.

I will say the yourpace platform is clunky and some of the assessment questions are worded confusingly. However, no real complaints so far.

[rachel83az]

I'm not a native speaker, but I grew up in San Antonio and adapted myself in the rich Spanish culture. Still speak like a gringo. Hopefully, I did the first course correctly so I can move to SPA 2. My wife also started with UMPI yesterday and she is taking SPA 1 as well. She also submitted the final yesterday. She is fluent though and blew through it.

I will say the yourpace platform is clunky and some of the assessment questions are worded confusingly. However, no real complaints so far.

Fingers crossed that you don't have any trouble from the teacher. Let us know how it goes, please! Students with some degree of fluency have, in the past, had serious issues with the teacher for using vocabulary that wasn't taught in the lesson. If that happens to you, you can ask Jessica to be allowed to transfer in Spanish from Study.com instead. It's possibly slightly more work, but should be a piece of cake for a (near) native speaker.

[futureteacher0]

Tomorrow is the morning to finish up my ENG 121 final and turn that draft in! What a fun class that was!