College for Grown-Ups

On a Break Unitl Tuesday

2009-09-10T22:26:00.000-07:00

I started my new class last Tuesday, Sept. 1, but after carefully reading the course syllabus from the facilitator, I decided that I couldn't comply with her "rules" and dropped the class. Actually, let me rephrase: I dropped this particular class due to the facilitator, I'm starting the same class next Tuesday with a new facilitator. In my next post, I'll go over the procedure for dropping/withdrawing rom a class, reasons why you may need to vs. reasons you don't want to, and share my experience with dropping a class.

Ethical Isuues Presented in this Class - Use of Corporate Resources

2009-09-03T19:25:00.000-07:00

You and the company you work for have a special relationship: each owes the other a level of loyalty based on that relationship. Additionally, as a representative of a company, you're considered an "agent" of your company, meaning that your actions are considered actions of the corporation. The use of corporate resources involves you fulfilling your end of the employee/employer contract. This means being truthful with your employer and being responsible with using corporate resources, reputation, and finances.

Example: Use of Corporate Reputation

A person who you work with is moving to another state and looking for a new job. The person is a great worker and when they ask you for a letter of reference, you want to do it for them. But there's one catch: they want you to write the letter on company letterhead.

Why is this an issue?

Whenever you identify yourself as a representative of your company, people can assume that you're speaking on behalf of the company, even if you're not. For that reason, you should be careful how you link yourself to your company. If you use company letterhead to write a letter of recommendation for someone or even to complain about something personal, it can be considered a "corporate position". While you're entitled to your own views, they may not be those of the company. In this case, if you need to make it known that you're part of this company, it's best to write your own letter (not on company letterhead), and attach your business card along with the letter. This way you can make your position in the company known without risking corporate reputation that may differ from your own individual feelings.

Example: Corporate Financial Resources

At work, you've been putting in long hours working on a special project for the CEO. Your company policy states that employees who work more than 10 hours in one day may be reimbursed for mileage. The policy also states that employees who work more than two hours past their scheduled work time can have a meal delivered to the office at company expense. You and your project team have been working since 8:00 this morning and order dinner at 7:00; then you have dinner and leave the office at 8:00 and plan to ask for reimbursement for mileage. Is this OK to do?

Why is this an issue?

In this case, you and your team are working long hours on a special project, and you're following company policy to the letter, so your course of action is probably acceptable. However, if you and your team are stretching out the last hour of work in order to have a meal on the company's dime, you're crossing the line between ethical and shady behavior. A good way to judge your actions, or potential actions: if you would have no problem explaining your actions to the CEO and wouldn't mind the CEO sitting in on your "dinner hour", then your actions are probably OK.

Example: Providing Honest Information

Your manager is being transferred to another location within your company in July of this year. In April, he calls a meeting asking that every department head delay processing all company invoices until after July 1. He wants to keep expenses down and revenues up so that his last quarter in the current department shows maximum results.

Why is this an issue?

Truth is a big issue. Everyone agrees that telling the truth is important, but someday we could each be in a situation where we're asked to fudge some numbers or change something around for our bosses. Most managers feel the need to make reports look as positive as possible before sending them up through the ranks of upper management. As a result, some companies have suffered serious financial problems. Senior management can make the wrong decisions based on inaccurate data. In this case, the manager who wants to hold off on expenses until after he leaves is only creating problems for whoever takes his place. It also harms those who are relying on payment from those invoices, which directly impacts the company's reputation. If you're ever in the above situation, consider consulting with someone outside of your chain of command, like the HR or legal department.

Ahh, the corporate world and it's many dilemmas.....I know I've been faced with some of these and some of these are waiting for me in the future. With some ethical issues, it's obvious what you should or shouldn't do. But others aren't so black or white. I loved this class and was so sad to see it end. I learned a lot about how to look at all the facts and circumstances surrounding a situation, not just what's right in front of me. I learned to look at all the possible costs to me and the rest of the people involved, and it helped me make better decisions. Not to say that I was an "unethical" person before taking this class; I have a solid moral foundation, but learning a broader way of thinking and then narrowing down the real issue at hand has helped me a lot. I would recommend this class to everyone who attends UOPX. It's a requirement for any of the Business majors, and you'll really get into it.

Ethical Issues Presented in this Class - Customer Confidence Issues

2009-08-28T21:01:00.000-07:00

In business, the customer is always right, right? Good customer service is what sets companies apart from other companies and can significantly hurt or help a business thrive. When companies break the trust of their customers, compromise their customers' safety, sell products that are knowingly defective, lie in their advertising, or break trust in other ways, it creates a customer confidence issues.

Example: Confidentiality

You work for a business consulting company in San Francisco. Your firm recently completed a thorough analysis of a company called XYZ Co., including sales projections for the next several years. One evening, you get a call from an executive at XYZ Co. in San Diego, and he asks you to fax over a summary of your firm's report. When you find the report, you see that it's stamped "for internal use only". Your supervisor is on vacation in a place where he is unreachable for the next week. XYZ Co. has a long-standing business relationship with your firm and has paid a lot of money for the services your firm provides.

Why is this an issue?

Privacy is one of the basic rights of the customer in any business transaction. Privacy and the duty to keep customers' information confidential goes beyond sales projections or financial information. It can also mean keeping information concerning mergers and acquisitions, layoffs, relocation, or personal information about an employee's health or family problems. In some industries, customer confidentiality is so important that companies prohibit employees from publicly acknowledging a customer relationship.
In this case, an executive is asking for access to confidential information. Are you sure that the person calling is actually an executive of XYX Co.? If you are sure that he is, do you know whether he has clearance from XYZ Co. to have access to the report? If so, is the report in a format that your company wants to share with XYZ Co.? When something is stamped "for internal use only", it means just that. In this case, you should get a hold of someone in a position of authority at your company before you disobey the warning on the report and release confidential information.

Example: Product Safety

You're a marketing pro for a pharmaceutical company that has just discovered a promising drug for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. For the last several months, you've worked hard on developing a marketing campaign that contains printed materials and samples of the product to be distributed to just about every family practitioner and gerontologist in the whole United States. As the materials are being loaded for delivery, an assistant tells you that she noticed a typing error in the printed material that could be misleading to the doctors and patients. In the section about side effects, sore throat and upset stomach are listed as having a probability of 3 percent, when in fact, the probability is 30 percent. This mistake is listed on just about every piece of literature and kits, and ads containing the mistake are already released in several magazines.

Why is this an issue?

Product safety is another basic right of the customer. In this case, the mistake will affect both your and the company's reputation. If you don't acknowledge the mistake, you are risking the safety of your customers by giving them false information, even if it was a typo. Product safety is usually thought of as an organizational issue, but a lot of ethical disasters that have product safety at their cores have started out as small problems that snowballed into much bigger proportions. Product safety is an individual issue as well as an organizational issue. In this case, you, as the marketing exec, face an ugly dilemma. On the one hand, if you reproduce all the printed material, it could become very costly, especially to a smaller firm, and it would delay the doctors' offices from getting the product out to the patients who need the drug. But since elderly people are prone to illness such as cold-like symptoms and stomach upset, and can even die from these conditions, the mistake cannot go unaddressed. I know you're probably thinking, "well, you'd have to correct the mistake by reprinting all the literature no matter what." Right. But you also have to consider that time and financial restrictions may not leave that option open. If not, tere are some other possible solutions. One is to come up with a "correction" letter to be distributed as quickly as possible to go along with the samples. You could also send out a letter to all the doctors' offices explaining the correction along with the fact that quality and full disclosure are of the utmost importance to your company. This will help you ensure that you correct the problem as soon as it's brought to your attention and allows your company to keep its good reputation with the public.

Example: Truth in advertising.

You work at an investment firm which is issuing a new bond. The new bond has an expected yield of 8 to 8.5 percent, which in the past have been good investments for your clients, and you've already sold the issue to many large and small clients. You're about to leave on a much-needed vacation and only have two more hours on the clock before you can go. At this time, your firm announces that the yield for the bond has been reduced, and the high end will now be no more than 8 percent. The last day of the issue will be in one week; right in the middle of your vacation.

Why is this an issue?

The fact is that your customers have been misled. Even though it was unintentionally, you are obligated to tell them about the bond before the issue closes. They have the right to be told the truth. This is another basic right of the customer. Failure to tell the truth about a product or service can be devastating to an individual's career and entire companies. I've seen a lot of this in the lending profession, where the customer thinks he or she is getting one interest rate or term on a mortgage, but when they go to sign the loan documents, there is a different and often higher rate. By then, the customer is likely to just sign and get it over with, in some cases the customer is pressured or talked into taking the higher rate or different term. This is similar to the example above in that the person offering the service has the obligation to tell the customer the truth, even it isn't in the customer's favor. Individuals who do not offer this information to their customers are taking a huge risk with their own reputations, as well as the reputations of the firms where they work. in this case, if I were the worker about to leave for vacation, I'd start making phone calls as fast as I could! To my clients and to my hotel to tell them I might be late checking in. I'd rather leave late for my vacation than have to live with knowing I didn't do right by my customers and possibly having no job to come back to.

I think lots of people have had to face dilemmas similar to this one, especially if they work in a service industry or financial industry. Things change that you don't have control over, but you do have control over how you handle the changes and how you handle your customers.

Up next: Use of corporate resources. Good reading for all those of you who have wondered: is taking my pen home from work considered stealing?

Ethical Issues Presented in this Class - Conflict of Interest

2009-08-25T16:31:00.000-07:00

Here are some more ethical issues that are business-related involving conflict of interest.

Conflicts of interest involve relationships. We all have them inside and outside of our jobs. But at what point does your relationship cloud your good judgment? Conflicts of interest can affect your personal reputation and your company's reputation. Your own abilities to act in an impartial way and make it known that you're acting impartially is key in fulfilling your employer/employee "contract".

Example: Conflict of Interest

Your son, who is a senior in high school, is applying to colleges. One of his top picks is hard to get into. Your son has always gotten good grades and been involved in the community and extra-curricular activities. When you mention this to one of your customers, she offers to write her a recommendation letter. She attended the school your son is applying for and is involved with the alumni association. Even though she's one of your customers, you regularly spend time together in social settings.

Why is this an issue?

Conflicts of interest happen when your own judgment or objectivity is compromised. Even just the appearance of a conflict of interest can be just as damaging as an actual conflict. In this case, where a customer is offering to help you, or your son, you need to ask yourself some questions. Would the offer influence your professional relationship? Is it possible that someone could think that your business judgment had been compromised by accepting the offer? Is your relationship with this customer more than just a business relationship, so that you accepting her offer would be taken as nothing more than an act of friendship? Some companies have policies which allow favors from customers if there was a friendship present, usually defined as a long-standing relationship that is well-known in the community. On the other hand, some companies strongly discourage employees from accepting favors like this one under any circumstances. Things to consider in this case would be how long you've been friends with your customer, how well known your friendship is to others, and whether or not the customer expects something in return like preferential treatment.

Here are some other common kinds of conflict of interest:

Overt Bribes or Kickbacks: I have had a lot of personal experience with this. Not directly, but I've seen plenty of it go on in the mortgage and real estate industry. People would offer a "bonus" to their assistants or other customers in return for making sure their loan files went through the process smoothly. Real estate agents would pay friends or other acquaintances a "referral fee" for referring business to them, which is illegal. If the person referring has a real estate license it is legal, otherwise it isn't.

Subtle Bribes: These include offering or accepting smaller gifts, like movie tickets, dinner, gift certificates, etc., in exchange for performance. Most companies have set boundaries on what employees can give as gifts to assistants, customers, vendors, and the like. Rewarding an assistant for a job well done or giving a small gift to a customer as a way of saying "thank you" is generally acceptable, as long as you check your company's policy first and stick to the rules.

Influence: This can happen when you are related to or close with someone at work who doesn't report to you, but your departments work closely together. If the fact that you are friends with or are related to someone can sway the decision, it's considered to be influence.

Privileged Information:This involves the privileged knowledge that you, as an employee, have access to which would be considered valuable to your competitors. I personally experienced this as an account executive for a lender. We all had a confidentiality agreement and a non-compete agreement that we had to abide by. This meant that we would not share confidential information with our competitors, and also meant that we were strongly discouraged from having relationships with employees of competing companies. This also means that if you work for one company, you won't work for a direct competitor at the same time. It's just not good business to get involved in this kind of dilemma, and it could cost you your job or career.

Why is this an issue?
Well, because every personal and corporate relationship is based on trust. If that trust is broken, it chips away at your own credibility and that of your company. Trust only exists if both people and corporations feel that they're being treated fairly, with honesty, and under the same terms as everyone else equally.

Next up: Customer confidence issues. This should be really interesting, because it involves everyone whether you're an employee or a customer.

Ethical Issues Presented in the Class - Human Resource Issues

2009-08-22T23:39:00.000-07:00

Most ethical issues that relate to the business world fall into one of the following categories:

Human resource issues: issues that occur when people work together. They include discrimination, privacy, harassment, performance evaluation, hiring, firing, and how others get along with each other.

Example: Discrimination

You and a co-worker, Nancy, have become friends over the last three years. Even though you don't work in the same department anymore, you've stayed friends. Six weeks ago, Nancy had a baby and wants to take the full six-month maternity leave offered by your company. She has told you that she is coming back to work after her leave and that her department has promised to hold her job for her until she comes back. Two days after your conversation with Nancy, you see a posting for her job on the company's web site. You run into one of Nancy's co-workers in the break room and ask him about the posting you saw on the web site. He tells you that they are going to fill Nancy's position but not to tell her. The co-worker says that Nancy has six months to be at home with her baby and that they will find her something to do if she decides to come back.

Why is this an issue?

Discrimination occurs when anything other than the employee's qualifications affect how the employee is treated. In this case, Nancy's maternity leave could result in discrimination. Even though pregnancy is a condition protected by law, a person's time away from his or her job is clearly being viewed as a liability. Employers have the right to replace employees who are on extended leaves of absence because of illness, finishing an education, or disability. The problem is that Nancy's department is keeping her in the dark about having her job when she returns to work by posting her position while she is out on maternity leave. If Nancy were informed of the department's plans, she might choose to shorten her leave or make other arrangements for her work schedule. It is simply unfair to keep Nancy in the dark about her position.

Example: Harassment

One of your co-workers, James, is a great worker who has an upbeat personality and a great sense of humor. Two or his favorite people to "pick on" are you and another co-worker, Jill. Jill is more formal and reserved in her relationships with her colleagues, but you are friendly with everyone in your department and get along well. James is always trying to get a reaction out of you and Jill. She likes to target you because you think she is funny, and Jill because he thinks it will make her more approachable and less "stuffy". James often uses innuendos and makes comments about "the beautiful ladies of the department" or "the two sexpots over there". It doesn't bother you, but while in the ladies' room, Jill comes up to you and starts complaining about James' comments.

Why is this an issue?

Sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome behavior of a sexual nature that makes someone feel uncomfortable at work. There are two types of sexual harassment defined by federal law: quid pro quo and hostile work environment. Quid pro quo means that sexual favors are a requirement for advancement in the workplace; hostile work environment means that a worker has been made uncomfortable by unwelcome actions or comments relating to sexuality. This type of sexual harassment is especially "gray" because, like beauty, it is in the eye of the beholder. Most people agree that kissing someone or slapping their behind to be sexual harassment. But what about putting your arm around someone, making a joke of a sexual nature, or complimenting someone on their appearance? In James' case, he didn't consider who he was talking to and how both you and Jill would react to his little comments. While you think it's funny or cute, no harm done, James should have considered how someone like Jill might react to his comments. Is Jill overreacting? Is James out of line? According to the law, it doesn't matter what you or James thinks about his comments. How Jill felt will be considered more than what James intended in this situation.

Pretty interesting stuff, don't you think? Check back soon for more ethical issues.

MGT/216 Organizational Ethics and Social Responsibility

2009-08-20T16:21:00.000-07:00

This class is so interesting! It really gets into not only your own sense of ethics, but also allows you to see things from other perspectives and make better decisions. In this class, you'll be faced with lots of different "ethical dilemmas" and learn how to identify the issue, present the facts, consider the consequences, and make the best business-related decision to minimize risks.

You'll also learn lots of terms. With business ethics being the main focus, let's start there:
Business ethics is defined as: moral principles concerning acceptable and unacceptable behavior by business people. Those who are in high-level executive positions are expected to maintain a high standard of values and conduct fair, honest practices with the company and the public.

Ethical dilemma: ethical dilemmas are situations where you have to choose a course of action which is either ethical or unethical. Most ethical dilemmas are not so black and white. How will your decision impact yourself, your community, and your company?

Here are the steps to solving an ethical dilemma:

1. Identify the issue: define the issue.
2. Why is it an ethical problem?
3. Identify professional costs and potential penalties for ethical or legal transgressions.
4. Consider all facts and relevant information about the situation.

This class presents many different situations where you have to look at all sides of the situation, not just how your decision will impact you.

I'll give you my tips and some of the situations I've been presented with in the reading materials in my next post. Stay tuned!

BIS/219- Business Information Systems

2009-08-16T21:58:00.000-07:00

This class is one of the required courses for the Bachelor of Science in Business program. This class gives the student a basic overview of information systems, how businesses use information systems, describes the different kinds of information systems, outlines ethical consideration when using customer information and privacy issues, and goes over trends in IT management.

Here are my tips for taking this class:
1. Read the Overview for each week. This class requires a lot of reading. Most of us students, especially those of us who are holding down a full-time job and a family, have limited time to spend reading lengthy chapters on a rather boring subject. Look at the overview at the beginning of each week and pay attention to the questions asked. Then go over all of the reading material to find the answers you're looking for.

2. Assign duties for week 3 team paper early. Get with your team and decide who is going to do what. This paper is not as lengthy as the final team project, but it's a good idea to get in the habit of collaborating with your team early on.

3. Club IT. In this class, you'll have to do three individual assignments on a fictional "club" called Club IT. In the first assignment, you'll have to write a pretty simple paper about the business' mission statement, clientele, management of information resources, and come up with a strategy to improve the management of information resources based on the reading.
There is a web site that you are supposed to go to in order to get more information about Club IT, but there really is not much information on that site. Play around with the other chapters on the site and you'll find more information you can use in your paper.
The second Club IT assignment is to write another paper evaluating the club's customers, resources, and supply chain, identify solutions to the problems that are outlined in the syllabus, incorporate customer service management, enterprise resource planning, and supply chain management software into the solutions you come up with, and discuss how various departments within the club can use the solutions you came up with.
The third and final assignment in the Club IT saga is to create a PowerPoint presentation. In this final installment, you're presented with yet another problem with Club IT, and have to come up with a 7-10 slide presentation outlining the ROI and NPV on a new inventory system they want to implement (you'll have to read the issue as outlined in the syllabus), research and identify some executive dashboard products the club can use to improve operational functions, and choose a project development methodology to implement.

ROI and NPV??? Give me a break! I took finance in my AA program, but really, did they need to throw that in there in an IT class? Needless to say, by week 5 you will truly be sick of Club IT. If it were a real place, I would make it a point never to go there.

4. Final Team Project. The final team assignment for this class is another PowerPoint presentation. I would advise students to break up the responsibilities to where each person does one section, which equals about two slides per person, and put them into a Word document. That way the person who is putting the presentation together can easily prepare the bullet points and speaker notes. Make a plan to get it done early in the week, because you'll have not only this to do but the Club IT presentation, and......

5. Final Exam. Yes, folks, you can count on having a final exam in this class, not just another paper to write. The final is a combo of multiple choice, short answer, and essay questions. One thing that will definitely help you find the answer you're looking for is to use the "Search" button in the Materials section where you would find the coordinating chapters for each week. If you're looking for the phrase "waterfall effect" type that phrase into the search engine and it will tell you which chapters the phrase appears in. Good to know if you were like me and didn't take the greatest notes or didn't have the resources to print the entire chapter.

6. I would love to hear what others who've taken this class have to say about it. I didn't really care for the class at first, but as time went on I got into it more and by the time the class was over I was really liking it. I also had a great facilitator and was part of a great team, so that made a big difference. Please share your own experiences in this class here, I'd love to hear from you!

Getting Started at University of Phoenix

2009-08-13T22:19:00.000-07:00

I started the Bachelor's Degree program earlier this year, and I have to say it's going great! Here are some of the major differences between Axia College of University of Phoenix (AA, AS degrees) and University of Phoenix (BA, BS degrees):

Axia College: Classes are taken two at a time, and last for nine weeks. The academic week begins on Monday and ends on Sunday. All assignments are done individually. You alternate between work weeks and read/discuss weeks. DQ's are typically posted twice a week during read/discuss weeks. On read/discuss weeks, you are required to participate three out of the seven days of the week. Most individual assignments are due on Sunday, Day 7. Toward the end of your AA degree program, expect to have homework due every Sunday.

University of Phoenix: Classes are taken one at a time, and last for five weeks. After completing 24 units, you may be eligible to "double up" on your classes, depending on your GPA and financial ability. The academic week begins on Tuesday and ends on Monday. About 70% of your assignments are done individually and 30% are done in teams. DQ's are posted every week, usually three to four days instead of just two. Participation is required four days out of the seven days of the week instead of three. Most individual assignments are due on Monday, Day 7. You also may have multiple assignments due on Day 7, such as 1 team assignment and 1 individual assignment. You can expect to have homework due every single Monday.

Also, Axia College offers a lot of classes on how to write academic papers according to APA standards, which is great if you don't already know how. There are also classes on how to conduct research online, develop a thesis statement, and help improve your overall writing skills.

This helps prepare you for the regular UOPX BA/BS program, where you'll put what you've learned to good use. You have to do a lot of paper-writing, but there is also a lot more material that you can easily relate to your own experiences at work or in life.

The first class you'll probably take in the BA/BS program in called GEN/200. In this class, you'll learn about setting goals, time-management, and take some learning style assessments. You'll also be introduced to the concept of the Learning Team. You'll be assigned to a Learning Team, probably during the second week of class. The purpose of the Learning Team is to promote a team environment, where you will be allowed to utilize your learning style, help others, and learn from their different learning styles.

You'll be asked to fill out a Team Charter at the beginning of each class as soon as team are assigned. You have to put your personal information, such as phone number, alternate email address so that your teammates can reach you if necessary, and your time zone. Usually the facilitators will try to keep you with people who are in your time zone. There is a potion where you have to fill out your learning style strengths and weaknesses, so that others on the team can see where your abilities are the strongest. Not to worry, everyone in the class has to list theirs, too! You'll then be asked to come up with a set of "rules" that the team agrees to follow, such as: agreeing to meet in your team forum on a regular basis, to have mutual respect for others, and to communicate to the team if you are unable to fulfill your part of a team assignment. Then one person from the team posts the Team Charter to his or her Individual Forum.

This class helps get you ready for all the rest of the classes in the BA/BS program, introduces you to Learning Teams, and helps you set the stage for your academic success. Before you know it, your first five weeks will be over and you'll be moving on to bigger and better things!

Axia College of University of Phoenix Online Tips

2009-08-07T18:10:00.000-07:00

I attended Axia College of University of Phoenix, which is where students who don't yet have an Associate's Degree would start. Here's an overview of the program and some tips for students:

Overview of Program
You will take two classes at a time which last for nine weeks. Typically, your first two classes are time-management/goal setting and communication related. These classes get you used to the online classrooms, help you set goals, improve your professional written communication skills, and help you balance work, school, and personal commitments.

You will get a Course Calendar and Course Syllabus for each class. You'll want to print out both so that you can easily reference the syllabus for assignments and the calendar to see when your assignments are due.

The calendar is outlined by days and weeks, with the days numbered from 1 to 7 and the weeks from 1 to 9. On the first day of each class (week 1, day 1), you will have to post your biography, which tells your instructor and classmates a little about yourself. Each instructor will post different instructions for what to include in your bio, so be sure to read each posting.

Online Classroom

The online classroom has different forums where you can post assignments, ask questions, or get course materials. The names of the forums are: Main, Course Materials, Chat Room, and Individual.

The main forum is where the instructor will post Discussion Questions (DQ's), typically twice a week on Day 2 (Tuesday) and Day 4 (Thursday). I'll get into DQ's a little later. All other important communication from your instructor will likely be posted in this forum.

The Chat Room is pretty self-explanatory: you can talk with your classmates here, get ideas for assignments, ask for help, etc. One important thing: any conversation in the Chat Room should be school-related and appropriate. This is also where you will post your bio on the first day of class. The instructor will post his or her bio and you respond with your own, or you can comment on the instructor's or your classmates' bios.

The Course Materials forum is where your instructor will post relevant materials each week. This usually includes quizzes and assignments that you can save to your computer. Yuor instructor will usually let you know when he or she has posted something to this forum.

The Individual Forum is where you post your assignments. Not to be confused with DQ's, which are posted in the Main Forum. This is also where your instructor will post your weekly feedback and grades, sort of like a "progress report". You can communicate with your instructor privately using this forum. You can ask a question or address any issues here and it will be kept private from your classmates.

Classwork/Homework

Ok, now onto those DQ's I keep mentioning. Each week in your classes will be either a "work week" or a "read and discuss week". During the read/discuss weeks, you will be required to answer two DQ's, which the instructor will post according to the course calendar. You have to answer the DQ by the due date, plus you have to fulfill your "participation" requirement. This means in addition to answering the DQ, you have to respond to other students' DQ response and you must do this twice on three separate days in order to fulfill the requirement. It's actually fun, because it's like having a conversation with your classmate or replying to a blog posting.

On "work weeks" you will not have any DQs due, so don't worry. Typically, you'll have two assignments to complete, usually on Day 3 (Wednesday), Day 5 (Friday), or Day 7 (Sunday). In the beginning, the assignments are short and not at all difficult, getting progressively longer and more difficult as the class goes on.

Note: Sometimes both of your classes will be on the same work schedule, sometimes not. For example, both classes start of on a read/discuss week, or one class starts off as a work week, while the other starts off as a read/discuss week. Just make sure to check both of your course calendars on a regular basis and you should stay on top of things.

Tips For Success

1. Know the difference between "participation" and "attendance". This can be a little confusing when you first start your program at Axia, but it does get easier.

For participation: you must post 2 substantive responses to DQ's per day on three separate days of the week. So on days when you have to answer a DQ, it's a good idea to respond to two classmates' responses so you can get it all done in one session. A good way to make sure you meet participation is to answer your DQ on Tuesday, plus respond to two classmates, respond again to two different classmates' DQ responses on Wednesday, then answer your final DQ for the week on Thursday, responding again to two classmates' responses. If you do this, you will get your participation in with no problem.

For attendance, it's a little simpler. You have to post something in any forum on two separate days of the week. You can meet this requirement by answering your DQ's and you don't have to worry about meeting attendance for the week. Some instructors do require you to "check in" on two separate days in the Chat Room forum, and they will let you know in plenty of time if they do. Usually, if the instructor requires this type of check-in, they will post a thread in the Chat Room specifically for this purpose.

2. Ask plenty of questions! Don't be afrad to speak up if there is something, anything, that you just don't understand. Or, if you have concerns about the class after reading the syllabus, ask. The instructors and your counselors are there to help you, so utilize them!

I had a problem with one of my classes after reading the syllabus. I noticed that the final for that class entailed doing something I was not comfortable doing personally. So I called my counselor and my instructor, and we found a solution that would allow me to complete the final without compromising my personal beliefs. If I hadn't been proactive about it, I might have switched out of that class or worse, failed the class for not turning in the final correctly. Remember, this is your education. You are in control.

3. Set aside enough time to complete the reading. In some classes, you'll have minimal required reading; in others, you will have what seems like a ton of it. Look over the syllabus to get the outline for each week and see how many chapters/assignments are due. That way, you won't get stuck staying up all night trying to get caught up. I will say that in some cases, you don't need to read the entire chapter in order to get the information you're looking for. It varies a lot, so look at the reading and the assignments that go with it to see if you can match it up.

4. Take notes. It's extremely helpful, especially when it comes to math. College math is hard for a lot of people, myself included. There are a lot of practice quizzes and exercises that are available to you for math, and I would do the exercises more than once, taking notes of how each different formula works. When it came time for a quiz, I had the formula right there in my notebook to help me come up with the correct answers. I kept separate notebooks for different subjects and wrote down parts of the reading that were relevant, along with the chapter and page number. It sure came in handy when trying to reference something later on.

5. Sunday assignments are inevitable in this program. In most classes at Axia, there are assignments which are due on Day 7 (Sunday). This can really start to get on your nerves and ruin weekend plans. Especially if the assignment is a 1,050-word paper. So my best advice is to try to break it up into smaller parts so you don't get stuck spending all day Sunday doing homework. As you progress in your program, this will happen more and more as the classes become more intensive into the subject material.

6. Get to know the tools that are available to you. The University of Phoenix and Axia have a great online library you can use for research on just about anything you're looking for. In your first couple of classes, you'll take a library tour and complete a tutorial on how to look things up. There is also a great "place" where you can find all kinds of helpful tools, it's called the Center For Writing Excellence. There is also a Center For Math Excellence. Click the links for both and play around with them until you feel comfortable using them.

7. Take advantage of workshops. There are lots of workshops available to you that are free to all students. They are basically a three-day, non-graded class. The setup is very similar to the online classroom. Workshop subjects range from APA formatting to Math.

Hopefully these tips will help make going back to school and doing it in an online setting a little less overwhelming.

Why Go Back Now? My story

2009-08-06T22:06:00.000-07:00

Ok, most of us who are returning to finish our education have been there, done that, and something happened along the way that made us decide to go back to school. People go back to school for many reasons; here, I'll share my story.

I started college fresh out of high school in the fall of 1995. No clue what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, but still, education was something I valued, something no one could ever take away from me. Looking back now, my lack of direction, or "knowing where I'm going" was a huge factor in why I stalled my education. Of course, there were other reasons: I got married, had a baby, then another baby a year later. But I ended up stopping and starting classes for the next two years.

The year that my younger child was born, I returned to school once again, thinking to myself, "This time, I WILL finish!" I had a family to think of. Bills to pay. An example to set for my children. But, as it turned out, I lost focus once again and began looking for a job, not only for myself but for my husband as well.

I answered an ad in the paper for a job as a Loan Officer. I thought it would be a good fit for my husband and explained that to the person on the phone, but they wanted me to come in and interview for the job. So I did. I ended up getting my Real Estate license in early 2000 and went to work.

The company I worked for that first year was great, but I didn't do as well as I thought I would. I didn't make much money and began watching what the loan processors did so I could learn from them. My efforts worked, and after a year I landed a job as a loan processor. I did that job for two years and was very good at it. I worked for a great company where the people were very honest and forthcoming, and I was able to meet a lot of great people. During my time at the last company, I met some people who had similar experiences to mine who had gotten jobs as Account Executives for subprime lenders. It sounded perfect: flexible hours, good salary plus generous commission, and geting to network with industry professionals.

In late 2002, I got the opportunity to work for a lender as an Account Executive, and I jumped on it! I worked for the company for two years and was very successful while learning a lot. I met so many people in the industry, some who were great and some who I would never want to do business with. I saw those who helped people get into their first home, and those who made up fake job titles just to make a buck. Even when I left that company and went to another, it was still the same old story. But as the years went by, I saw more and more bad than good. It got to the point where I felt like I couldn't trust anyone. I worked as an Account Executive for a few more years until the potential for making any kind of living all but disappeared and many clients were banned for committing fraud.

Discouraged by the lack of work and disgusted by what the industry I had loved so much had become, I decided not to look for another job in the industry. Aha! Why not finish school now? It made sense: I had the time, I had the focus, I had some previous experiences to draw upon. So I took the plunge in October 2007 and started back to school.

I chose Axia College of University of Phoenix because I had heard so many good things about UOPX and knew a few people who had actually finished their degrees there. So, with focus and determination to finally finish this time, I started my classes and finished with my Associates Degree in business this past April.

In May, I started the Bachelor's Degree program through University of Phoenix. Here, I'll chronicle my journey as a 30-something wife and mom trying to finish school and make a new life.