University of the People Experiences

[ashkir]

Hello all. What is your experience as an instructor or student for University of the People?

I'll be starting there as an instructor on January 6th.

[MNomadic]

I don't have any experiences at UoPeople but congrats to you! What subjects are you going to be teaching and hopefully you post your experiences?

[KSoul]

Hello all. What is your experience as an instructor or student for University of the People?

I'll be starting there as an instructor on January 6th.

Talk about the fast track to teaching at a university. Twelve months ago to now is a solid career level up. Is this part of their volunteer program for instructors or with your doctorate more of a traditional hire? Congrats again.

[Personherebb9]

I plan on enrolling into the AS Health Science program at UoPeople next year on top of TESU. It's not a priority for me and I will definitely drop it, if I feel overwhelmed. What courses are you going to be an instructor in? AND CONGRATS!!!

(BTW: yes I am aware that UoPeople is NA accredited. I am hoping they receive RA before graduation. If they don't that's fine as well, since South Africa (SAQA) does recognize degrees conferred through an institution accredited by DEAC.)

[Vle045]

I tried it out a while back in their MBA program. It was ok, but I had a hard time sticking with it. The materials provided were several years old and I had been out of school for around 25 years. Without any real guidance (like a writing center, optional Zoom meetings, etc.), it was really hard for me to get/stay engaged. I really like the concept and think it is a great option for some. Peer grading was often a pain point for a lot of students. I'd kind of like to take classes again... maybe just as an auditing student if that is a thing. Or do something as a volunteer.

[StoicJ]

IMO, course material was about the same as what I've had at 3 more traditional colleges. 

I believe working with non-Western (particularly African and Middle Eastern) students was a plus for a Westerner like me. Western civilization is undergoing dramatic changes and I feel my UotP experiences have given me something of a glimpse into the future. The instructors I've had have been very fair.

If anything, I feel like the workload for lower-level courses has been a bit on the heavy side. Overall, it's been a good experience.

[sacredrain]

Hello all. What is your experience as an instructor or student for University of the People?

I'll be starting there as an instructor on January 6th.

HI Askir, I have been an instructor at University of the People since 2013, I am one of the "veterans." I currently am an instructor for the business and IT schools. My experience has been great so far, except for a blip this year, which was resolved quickly. 

My main gripes is the fact that the content is outdated, but they have recently redeveloped two courses I teach, with less emphasis on the peer grading. In fact in those two courses, peer grading only takes place in week 5. So it is more work as an instructor to assess all of the work, but less complaints.  The university has worked hard to improve the faculty experience, we now have regular faculty meetings and professional development, plus we have department chairs and course leads, something the university did not have until around 2 years ago.

The university has taken some strides to improve, they do have student centers, they are just hard to find with the cumbersome set up. The faculty department uses many automatic reports that are not alwasy accurate, so you may get an email that you did not grade all of your assignments that week, when in fact you have. Most of the staff are in India now, so it can be hard to get assistance in your time frame, but email generally works. Welcome to the university!

[debrag]

My experience. Peer grading is terrible, marking criteria is so poor that a barely English written assignment can get full marks. Never really interact with the instructor other than to send in the learning journal, apparently some students have great interaction, could just be as I do what I need to do to get marks and nothing more.

Student services (not your area) is appalling. You either get no reply, a generic response, or get told what you can find yourself on their website.

Website: Broken. Pages don't load or can't be found. They blame it on student numbers but I've had no issues anywhere else.

Registration: They changed to 'recommendations' a while ago and have had issue since.  The courses you need aren't there or you get offered courses you've transferred in.

Do instructors actually teach? I've never had an instructor give a lesson, it's all been from open free online books or youtube videos. Of course you need to know what you are looking at for forum discussions, journals, issues with peer grading, and answering student questions.

[collegecareerstudent]

I currently am an instructor there. As a volunteer, you'll make very little money and only get paid each 12th week. Maximum course load is 2 classes per term. Most an instructor can make per year at the masters level is 5000 dollars. If you have a PHD a little more than that. We don't actually teach but we grade journals, and discussions, and they do actually take a long time. Some content is outdated and some links are broken but most students genuinely want to learn, and it's rewarding work nonetheless.

[Vle045]

I currently am an instructor there. As a volunteer, you'll make very little money and only get paid each 12th week. Maximum course load is 2 classes per term. Most an instructor can make per year at the masters level is 5000 dollars. If you have a PHD a little more than that. We don't actually teach but we grade journals, and discussions, and they do actually take a long time. Some content is outdated and some links are broken but most students genuinely want to learn, and it's rewarding work nonetheless.

Since I have seen a few people on this forum mention that they teach at UoPeople, I am curious if it is difficult to become an instructor there.