Thursday, January 30, 2020

Information Technology Management Emphasis Essay Example for Free

Information Technology Management Emphasis Essay The Master of Business Administration—Information Technology Management is specifically designed for experienced business professionals and managers seeking upward career mobility in the information technology arena. The program prepares you for a mid-level to upper-level information technology management position in business, industry, and non-profit organizations. MBAITM Understanding the Competency-Based Approach Practically speaking, what does it mean when we say that WGU programs are competencybased? Unlike traditional universities, WGU does not award degrees based on credit hours or on a certain set of required courses. Instead, students earn their degrees by demonstrating their skills, knowledge, and understanding of important concepts through a series of carefully designed assessments. Progress through your degree program is governed, not by classes, but by satisfactory completion of the required assessments that demonstrate your mastery of the competencies. Of course, you will need to engage in learning experiences as you brush up on competencies or develop knowledge and skills in areas in which you may be weak. For this learning and development, WGU has a rich array of learning resources in which you may engage under the direction of your mentor. You will work closely with your mentor to schedule your program for completing the assessments. (We discuss assessments in much more detail later in this guide.) You will work closely with additional faculty members as you proceed through courses of study that are designed to lead you through the content you must master in order to pass individual assessments. The benefit of this competency-based system is that it makes it possible for people who are knowledgeable about a particular subject to make accelerated progress toward completing a WGU degree even if they lack college experience. You may have gained your skills and knowledge of a subject on  the job, accumulated wisdom through years of life experience, or, indeed, took a course on a particular subject. WGU awards a degree to you based on the skills and knowledge that you possess and can demonstrate, not the number of credits you have on your transcript. Accreditation Western Governors University is the only university in the history of American higher education to have earned accreditation from four regional accrediting commissions. WGUs accreditation was awarded by (1) the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, (2) the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, (3) the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, and (4) the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The university’s accreditation status is now managed by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). The university is also accredited by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC), and the WGU Teachers College is accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). The nursing programs are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). The Health Informatics program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM). The Degree Plan The focus of your program is your personalized Degree Plan. The Degree Plan is a detailed blueprint of the learning resources and assessments that comprise your program. The length of your program depends on both the amount of new information you need to learn and the amount of time you plan to devote each week to study. Students will vary widely in the specific skills and information they need to learn. For example, some may be highly knowledgeable in a subject matter and would not need to engage in new learning opportunities. Others may find that portions of the program require completely new learning and that they may need to take an online class or participate in a study module to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to pass the program competencies in that area. Some individuals may be able to devote as little as 15ï€ ­20 hours per week to the program, while others may have more time. For this reason, you will complete pre-assessments to help your mentor form a profile of your prior knowledge and experience for use in creating your Degree Plan. WGU’s Mentoring Approach ]Our mentoring approach is a powerful component of the WGU educational experience. When you enroll at WGU, you will begin interacting with your personal mentor, course mentors, and support staff. Your mentor takes an active role and a personal interest in your success. Whether by e-mail or phone, your mentor will be your ―point personâ€â€" of communication throughout your program. Your mentor will help motivate you to work hard to complete your program. When you have questions or concerns, your mentor team will help you resolve them. You and your mentor will work together to evaluate your educational background, strengths, and weaknesses. With this analysis, your mentors will help determine in which areas you are already competent (and can move quickly to assessment) and areas you need to work on; this will become your personalized Degree Plan. Your mentor will direct you to the Courses of Study that contain the best learning resources for you (courses, texts, independent study modules, etc.) and are supported by course mentors that serve as your content experts for each area of study. As you proceed through your academic program, you and your mentor will determine when you are ready for the required assessments. If you are ready, your assessment will be scheduled. You will follow this same process as you proceed through each domain. Connecting with Other Mentors and Fellow Students As you proceed through your Degree Plan, you may also have direct contact  with other faculty members. These communications can take a variety of forms, including participation in learning communities, office hours via the courses of study, and webinars. As a WGU student, you will have access to your own personal MyWGU Student Portal that will provide a gateway to courses of study, learning communities, and program communities where you will have interactions with faculty and other students. Courses of study and communities are specifically designed to support you as you develop competencies in preparation for your assessments through the utilization of threaded discussions, blogs, and chats that are guided by content experts. You will access your program community during the Education Without Boundaries introductory course to network with peers who are enrolled in your program and to receive continued support through professional enrichment and program-specific chats, blogs, and discussions. WGU also provides a Student Services Associate to help you and your mentor solve any special problems that may arise. Education Without Boundaries Orientation Education Without Boundaries (EWB) is a required orientation that focuses on acquainting the student with WGU’s competency-based model, distance education, technology, and other resources and tools available for students. You will also utilize tutorials, message boards, online MBAITM chats, and other activities to connect with other students in your program. This orientation is completed before you start your first term at WGU. Transferability of Prior College Coursework Because WGU is a competency-based institution, it does not award degrees based on credits but on demonstration of competency. However, if you have completed college coursework at another accredited institution, you may have your transcripts evaluated and may be able to have some lower-division or co-requisite assessments cleared. The guidelines for determining what will  Ã¢â‚¬â€¢clearâ€â€" through transfer vary based on the degree program. The following transfer guidelines generally apply to graduate programs: Graduate domains (i.e., subject areas) cannot be cleared through transfer. Requirements in the domains that can be considered the degree major cannot be cleared through transfer. Furthermore, WGU does not clear any requirements based on the students professional experience and does not perform a resume review or portfolio review that will automatically clear any degree requirements. Degree requirements and transferability rules are subject to change in order to keep the degree content relevant and current. Remember, WGUs competency-based approach lets you take advantage of your knowledge and skills, regardless of how you obtained them. Even when you do not directly receive credit, the knowledge you possess may help you accelerate the time it takes to complete your degree program. Continuous Enrollment, On Time Progress, and Satisfactory Academic Progress WGU is a ―continuous enrollmentâ€â€" institution, which means you will be automatically enrolled in each of your new terms while you are at WGU. Your terms are six months long. Longer terms and continuous enrollment allow you to focus on your studies without the hassle of unnatural breaks between the shorter terms that you would experience in a more traditional environment. At the end of every six-month term, you and your mentor will review the progress you have made and revise your Degree Plan for your next six-month term. WGU requires that students make measurable progress toward the completion of their degree programs every term. We call this On Time Progress – denoting that you are on track and making progress toward on time graduation. As full-time students, graduate students must enroll in at least eight (8) competency units each term, and undergraduate students must enroll in at least twelve (12) competency units each term. Completing at least these minimum enrollments is essential to On Time Progress and serves as a baseline from which you may accelerate your program. We measure your progress based on the assessments you are able to pass, not on your accumulation of credit hours or course grades. Every time you pass an assessment, you are demonstrating that you have mastered skills and knowledge in your degree program. For comparison to traditional grading  systems, passing an assessment means you have demonstrated competency equivalent to a ―Bâ€â€" grade or better. WGU has assigned competency units to each assessment so that we can track your progress through the program. A competency unit is equivalent to one semester credit of learning.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Tragedy And The Common Man :: essays research papers

In Arthur Miller’s 1949 essay, "Tragedy and the Common Man," Miller began by saying, "In this age few tragedies are written." This particular essay was published in the New York Times, was also the preface that was prepared for "Death of a Salesman" in 1949. Before Miller’s "Death of a Salesman," there was only one type of tragedy—that which fit Aristotle’s definition. For Aristotle, plays of tragedy had to revolve around kings, gods, or people of high class. In these classic tragedies, the diction must be elevated and fitting of the characters.Arthur Miller challenged just about every belief and convention that had previously been accepted about tragic plays, as in Shakespeare’s "Hamlet"—which could be considered the paragon of tragedies. In claiming, "The tragic mode is archaic," Miller explains "that the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as king s were." This very notion that regular people are just as fit to be main characters in a tragedy as royalty was also applied to the audience’s understanding of a tragic play. If the play was supposed to be about upper-class people, and was spoken in a vernacular that was only known to the high-bred, how were the common people who saw these plays supposed to comprehend their meaning? The only way for this problem to be solved, according to Miller, was to present a character to whom the audience will readily relate. Miller did this by presenting Willy Loman, the main character of "Death of a Salesman," who was a common workingman with a wife and two kids.The reason that there is such an absence of tragedies in this day and age, is that "the turn which modern literature has taken toward the purely psychiatric view of life, or the purely sociological," has been one that creates skepticism. With so much thinking involved, and analyzing, no one can really enjoy a play for what it is—pure entertainment. By constantly trying to figure out a reason for why something happened, the audience can no longer accept tragic action, let alone heroic action. This, along with the societal belief that in order for a protagonist to be recognized as a character he must be faultless, has made tragedy nearly impossible. Every person has his/her faults, even the great Hamlet had his downfall; his ambivalence and indecisiveness brought him down. Just as Willy Loman’s lack of self-esteem and feelings of inadequacy are what destroyed him.

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Detailed analysis of school safety

Safety is an important factor in any learning institution that is focussed to achieving its mission, vision and goals in the future. So the most important thing to be enforced in such institutions is thus safety. Although there are other factors that contribute to the success of students in learning, safety form the core foundations for all activities that are undertaken by any learning institutions. The need to provide better learning environment to students begins with the provision of physical safety that leading to the provisions of emotional well being to the students. Atkinson, 1996) However, in the recent past years, many schools within the country have been faced with a number of problems which led to the compromising of schools safety. During last year’s perilous event that took place in our school, many of us as part of the school community were affected. Follow such consequences, the school administration formed a committee to research on the safety conditions and control measures in our school. The following is the report that was hand over to the administrators:- Outline of the issues: The rising indiscipline behaviour among the students The misuse of drugs and the utilization of illegal drugs within the school compound The rampant violence act among students and teachers The movement of outsiders and non- students as well as students within the school compound (Trump, 1997) While the above four issues were tackled into detail, it was clear that in the first matter, students were becoming uncouth and rowdy. There were many cases that involved students fighting in classes and outside classes. Furthermore, some of the sources indicated that some students had even blackmailed the name of our school to the outside communities by misbehaving in public. Some students have been alleged not to respect the elders and those in authorities while they are in public places. The second issues of using drug and illegal drugs indicated that most students have been caught by watchmen either drinking or drunk of alcohol, beer, or they have been found smoking cigarettes, marijuana and others addict able materials that may stimulates and affects the normal functioning of body or nervous systems. I think the applications of these substances are the consequences of the first and the third issue of rampant violence among the students and to the teachers. The most important matter that perhaps has lead to all these scaring actions is the lack of school fence. This has paralysed the efforts of the guards to regulating and control the movement of all the people getting in and out of the school ground. In fact this has given a great opportunity to drug traffics to access the clients within the school without much struggle or impairment while the same applies to the addicted students who would like to sneak out to go and obtain their materials. (Huff, 1996) Control measures To alleviate to the crooked ways of the students’ behaviour, the administrators being the closes guardians to the students should be taught guidance and counselling courses. They will then help them to mould the students and even rescue those who are drug addicts from the scathing killer drugs. While this is being implemented, the school can invite sociologists and religious leaders to give words of advices to the students periodically. Moreover, to accomplish their mission, there is need for the administration to coordinate with the parents and the local communities as well as the public in general to act as role models and to give corrective measures and check the behaviour of students. Final the school requires to be provided with a physical fence to check the intruders and students movements. (Trump, 1993)