Honest Opinion Wanted: How easy is WGU?

[lincolnlawyer]

So I came across this Reddit thread from a year ago where someone claimed they completed a master’s in a month. I assume this was the Tempo program. [url=https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/15pkww6/comment/jvy8hir/][/url]

Now, WGU has been discussed quite frequently in the forum, but particularly alarming is this individual claiming they breezed through the instructional & design program in such a short time - 1/3 of a term, and that one of the classes involved basic photoshop skills…


Can anyone confirm if this is true? If it is, it doesn’t sound like you can learn anything at all…

[withrown]

So I came across this Reddit thread from a year ago where someone claimed they completed a master’s in a month. I assume this was the Tempo program. [url=https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/15pkww6/comment/jvy8hir/][/url]

Now, WGU has been discussed quite frequently in the forum, but particularly alarming is this individual claiming they breezed through the instructional & design program in such a short time - 1/3 of a term, and that one of the classes involved basic photoshop skills…


Can anyone confirm if this is true? If it is, it doesn’t sound like you can learn anything at all…

I started a WGU degree but switched to a more traditional program which better fit my needs. I suspect the people who complete that quickly get a heads up on the coursework/grading peramiters and start some of those assignments before they enroll.

Learning is relative - if you already are competent in the skills the degree "teaches" you may just need the piece of paper to qualify your knowledge.

[bluebooger]

WGU is designed for people who already know their stuff

I completed the C++ course in a few hours
same with the Excel course
same with the Python course
same with the networking fundamentals course
same with the database course

but I've been doing this stuff for years without a degree

[origamishuttle]

To echo what others have shared, the more knowledge, experience, pre-study, pre-work, etc., that you can do before starting, and the better suited you are to the format of the assessments, the faster you can progress through a WGU degree program. For a select few that can fire on all cylinders, it can be completed very quickly.

[lincolnlawyer]

I started a WGU degree but switched to a more traditional program which better fit my needs. I suspect the people who complete that quickly get a heads up on the coursework/grading peramiters and start some of those assignments before they enroll.

Learning is relative - if you already are competent in the skills the degree "teaches" you may just need the piece of paper to qualify your knowledge.

How would they be able to “get a heads up” without enrolling? I know nothing about WGU so please do excuse me if my question sounds ridiculous.

I do agree with your point on learning, but the task the Reddit user mentioned doesn’t sound anything close to graduate level…

WGU is designed for people who already know their stuff

I completed the C++ course in a few hours
same with the Excel course
same with the Python course
same with the networking fundamentals course
same with the database course

but I've been doing this stuff for years without a degree

How difficult were the course assignments?
Judging from the Reddit post, only basic knowledge would suffice.

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To echo what others have shared, the more knowledge, experience, pre-study, pre-work, etc., that you can do before starting, and the better suited you are to the format of the assessments, the faster you can progress through a WGU degree program. For a select few that can fire on all cylinders, it can be completed very quickly.

I see. Any tips on pre-study? I can only find the module names on WGU’s website - nothing like a syllabus that outlines the course contents/assignments.

[origamishuttle]

Any tips on pre-study? I can only find the module names on WGU’s website - nothing like a syllabus that outlines the course contents/assignments.

There are reddit posts where people share some general info and strategies, but usually not specific assessment info. Those are a good place to start to understand what is involved with passing each course. I haven't done any pre-writing for any of my courses at WGU, so I've only used reddit, but the assessment info may be leaked on the web in some places. You can try a search to see what comes up for each course.

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To clarify, I assume the rubric for a paper may be available to allow you to pre-write for a course. I hope there aren't exam questions leaked online!

[LevelUP]

The technology master's degrees aren't easy if you don't have any knowledge.

[xspect]

I finished a Bachelor's in one term. But that was many moons ago and pre-AI.

[bjcheung77]

WGU doesn't have a Tempo learning system, that's Walden. Walden Tempo is competency based learning, just like WGU... Essentially, all competency based learning is, to showcase you've got all the expertise in that subject matter before you move ahead, be it assignments or assessments that you need to go through, you move along at a comfy pace - UMPI Your Pace is also another example where people can get things done quickly with the previous knowledge they have in the subject matter...

[spohara]

I would point out a few things I've seen in general, having been in two masters programs. The first one was social science, thesis based, and designed to train researchers. The second is a "professional masters" and is coursework based. A research masters is going to require more than just knowledge and "mastery" and would be impossible to complete in such a timeline, because it requires original work, not to mention researching and writing multiple 10-15 page papers for a course (with some longer end of course papers sprinkled in). A professional masters is more based on mastery of a subject. From my experience it definitely does require less work than a research masters, but not necessarily less knowledge. If it is coursework based, you can probably compare it to a senior year in a subject - you just get to go a bit deeper into some subject areas because you have the requisite background. I have one direct comparison from undergrad to graduate - I took a 1 credit database course at the graduate level (professional masters), and it was more in depth than the 3 credit SDC database course by a narrow margin. I believe the SDC took me 6 hours, and the grad course took about 8-12, I can't remember, and most of that was just going through and doing ungraded labs, which were required (you had to sign an academic honestly that you attempted all labs) and gathering up my final submission. Why so easy? I've worked on databases for 8 years. If I were in a research masters, I would not be able to complete a course that fast even with 8 years of experience. It might accelerate my writing process, and I may even have some articles or datasets in mind as sources, but there would simply be no way to complete all the WORK required, even though I could very quickly demonstrate MASTERY of the subject. This is one man's experience, I haven't gone to WGU, so I'm not 100% familiar with their courses, although I suspect they are reasonably similar to many professional masters, such as the one I'm currently in. YMMV, but I'd look at your goals - if you just want to gain mastery and become more employable, a professional masters be plenty good enough. If you want to go on to a PhD or do research and publish, a research/thesis based masters program might be better (although I don't think a professional masters will necessarily exclude you from going on to do research - might just have to play catch up a bit). In either case, you will probably not know everything you need to know and will want to continue learning to actually get good at whatever you're doing.