Erik's Western International Online Education Page

I am currently attending Western International University Online working on my prerequisite courses (the first two years and thus I am doing the associate of arts in business because it is cheaper than UoP) before I transfer to the University of Phoenix to complete my Bachelors of Science in Information Technology.

Work at WIU is broken up into 9 week blocks and two classes are taken during each block.  Here is some of my coursework that I have completed for my courses.

My Current Autobiography which is always posted on the first day of class.

Block 1: COM110 (Effective Persuasive Writing & IT101) & IT101 (Skills for Learning in an Information Age)
Block 2: COM112 (Utilizing Information in College Writing) & CRT201 (Critical Thinking)
Block 3: COM210 (Written Communication) & ETH123 (Cultural Diversity)
Block 4: HUM201 (World Culture and the Arts) & INB300 (International Business)
Block 5: ECO301 (Economic Theory) & PHI101 (Introduction to Philosophy)



Why am I posting my work:  I realize I am no great scholar and certainly my work is nothing to brag about.  Furthermore, there is certainly a potential problem of other students stealing my work and not doing it on their own.  On the other hand there were times when I didn't fully understand the assignment, and others were in the same boat too, so this will hopefully help them out.  Keep in mind that it is only my work that is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.  The excerpts from the WIU syllabus is their property for which they retain all rights and copyright.  Those excerpts are posted here are under the guidelines of the Fair Use aspect of US copyright law.  Some items that I completed for school cannot be posted here because the majority, or all, of that work is held under someone else's ownership and copyright.  (e.g. Peer reviews of student papers)  Also, the school items that require personal feedback are frequently not based on actual events or my feelings, it is just what I wrote to accomplish the task at hand.

Additional $.02 (5/23/2005):  Overall the education at Western International is very poor.  This is a completely do-it-yourself education with almost no professor interaction and no materials except the book.  There are no lectures.  The only handout are those that you need to complete and turn in for a grade.  I am here for the degree, and anything I learn is a bonus, since I already have the job I want.  On the other hand I think that this is a pretty pricey education for no education.
Disclaimer:
I do not like school to begin with, and I am only taking this so I can continue to stay with large companies.  Large companies typically have better benefits, but most importantly would be more willing to accommodate any disability that may result from my Multiple Sclerosis.  I am bound to have problems with any education system, probably even one that I developed and administered.  You would think that as someone who prefers to do his own education that this would be ideal.  Maybe it is because I am taking courses that I already know the material or could care less about.  And fine I get it, I have not idea on how to use a comma or any other punctuation. (as I probably punctuated this sentence wrong so laugh away)

Update (5/31/2005):  I spoke with the Apollo Group's legal counsel  this evening regarding WIU syllabus content on this site.  Even though we disagreed he was extremely pleasant.  The point of the conversation was that the Apollo Group wanted their material removed from the site.  We disagreed on whether it fell under fair use, but I did not feel it was important for the site and thus no reason to argue.  I have removed, I think, all of their content from the site.  The leaves only my work which will remain licensed under the FDL.  The site is geared towards WIU students taking the class to resolve any questions they have; and they already have access to the material I removed.  I'm sure WIU is still not real happy with the remaining content, but hopefully this can be an acceptable compromise for all parties.  Besides I know my work isn't very good, especially in regards to grammar and spelling, and if you need to lift my work to get by at school that is really bad.  I am now requesting that the Apollo Group's counsel review the site to make sure it is in an agreeable form.



© Erik Smith 2005
Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License