My first Class BSHS 305

BSHS 305: Historical Development of Human Services: An Introduction

Coming from my old school, there was quite a shock to my system starting this course. I'm attending the University of Phoenix online program for the Bachelors in Human Services (in case I haven't mentioned that so far). My associates degree is in Psychology so the switch from Psych (which I love and am passionate about) over to Human Services was quite a dramatic change in curriculum.

With this class, if you have a good head on your shoulder, the information presented should be no sort of new information for you. There's a great ordeal of information about the ethical code of conduct for a human service professional, loads of information on the client-helper relationship, and general information about how a professional should conduct themselves when dealing with themselves, clients, colleagues, other professionals, and employers. Again, I feel I must reiterate, most of the information given to you is pretty general knowledge, and if you have a good sense of general ethical and moral judgement, the information itself should be a breeze.

On the other hand, the intensity of this course is not so insignificant. In the second week, we had a 350 minimum word brochure we had to create. In the 3rd week, a 1,050 - 1,400 word paper about Clients, the 4th week an interoffice memo, and the final week, a 5-10 powerpoint slide show.

Seems simple enough right? Did I mention that you must also make 8 "significant" posts per week, participate in group projects which are equally as large, if not larger than the above mentioned projects, as well as read 2 chapters per week, a 5-10 page article per week, knowledge checks (approx 20 questions), and module quizzes? *take a deep breath now*. Okay, so the coursework ended up being quite a bit more intense than I had imagined it would be. Seriously. Additionally, group projects are worth 30% of your grade, so that was nerve wrecking by itself.

Here are my suggestions to those of you who are taking this course, or ANY course at University of Phoenix:
1) Pace yourself, the work isn't necessarily a quick shot assignment
2) Don't forget to participate in the class discussions
3) Be authentically you, but caution yourself on how forward you are
4) Getting ahead is ideal
5) Truly read and understand the material, even if you know the information. Knowledge checks are beasts and so are the quizzes...they want to know that you read the material.
6) BREATHE! Walk away when you need to.
7) Get to know a classmate or two and the instructor if at all possible. (I e-mailed my instructor and asked her to share her background with me because the "Instructor Policies" is just that: policies. No personal touch to it.)

Transferring Credits to Phoenix

Well, I'll start by saying this....if I didn't have the guy that signed me up (Robert) helping me through this particular process, I may have actually just given up. At present, I am still waiting on the University of Phoenix to drop the college math course II. When I enrolled, the initial credit transfer process was smooth and simple. I didn't have any issues, but the one catch was that I was still enrolled at the local community college completing my last course for my associates degree. Once I completed the associates, the new credit from the statistics course that I had completed was supposed to be transferred over. Rather than Phoenix taking care of this for me, I have had to do quite a bit of digital foot work. Downloading forms, sending copies of my credits, etc. As you can see below, I'm still waiting on the official process to be completed. 

That information being shared, I would say that while the initial transfer was beautifully smooth, this second portion has been far less simple. The first e-mail I sent regarding this was on September 11. Those who know me know that I'm incredibly impatient. Maybe a week is an appropriate time frame, but to me, it feels like an eternity, especially with how quickly these courses move. (5 Weeks each). Hopefully, this gets taken care of quickly, given that today marks day 7 (and nearing day 8) that I am waiting on this. The reason that this particular situation bothers me so much is because I was under the impression that initially, I wouldn't have to worry about it and that Phoenix would request an updated transcript from the college I was previously attending. That did not happen, which was what really bothered me about this. Says me who is sitting here blogging about it, then again, it's actually kind of nice just blurbing it out there, even without response.

My suggestions to anyone who is transferring credits to the University of Phoenix:
1) If you are currently enrolled in a different school and attending a class at the time you are interested in enrolling at Phoenix, wait until you finish the class(es) that you are presently in. This will make the transfer process smooth, quick, and efficient.
2) Keep in touch with the person who helped you get enrolled. They will be your biggest advocate until you get to know your advisers better.
3) Be persistent, but not demanding.

That being said, I'm out. See y'all next blog.

A break from the norm

Well, today I'm taking a break from all the school stuff...okay, maybe only a couple hours. My sister flew in from Michigan and I'm so glad to see her.

In the mean time, today I did finish writing my scholarship essay. I'm so nervous about it, but I feel like it's mostly good enough. I will be having a teacher from a local school review it for me and hopefully, I will have it ready to be turned in later next week. In the mean time, I have a few more essays to write. My hopes is that this one will be the first scholarship essay I submit, even though it's the second one I've been working on.

Enrolling in the University of Phoenix

I had been debating attending the University of Phoenix for quite some time. I knew it was coming close to decision time so I started calling some local colleges, including Weber State University, University of Utah, and a few others. All offered good programs and relatively reasonable tuition costs for the school type, but just didn't feel like they were schools that would work for me.

Some coworkers of mine had given me feedback on their experience at Phoenix and none of it was bad other than cost, so I decided to contact them. (866.766.0766).  I told them I was only inquiring and didn't want to be pressured into anything and they were good about that. Realistically, I knew I was going to attend because I didn't want to mess of large campuses and thousands of students.

I ended up in contact with Robert D'Alton through UoPhx whom was fabulous about giving me the information I needed, and allowing me to take my time and decide what I wanted to do. (Mind you, by the point that I finally was enrolled for classes, it had been months of collaborating back and forth with questions, questions, and more questions.)

Bob helped me understand all the information I needed to know and got me set up and on track. He regularly checked in with me to see where I was at with getting ready for school and if there was anything he could do to help. Of course, there was (and continues to be) plenty of things that I can use help with and he was (and is) fantastic at getting things moving and getting answers for me.

Overall, I'd have to say the enrollment process itself was smooth and without too much head ache. I figure, if I had been a normal transfer (as in, wasn't completing an associates at the time of the transfer), I would have had zero problems with getting in and going.

The Bachelor's Nightmare Begins

Well, I finally did it. I finished my associates degree and started on my Bachelor's. I decided to attend the University of Phoenix because personally, I prefer online classes and overall being able to work on my own. There's so many things I have to say already and while most of them are good, there's definitely a few frustrating points. All of that information will be posted later on as shorter blog posts, otherwise, we will both be sitting here for a while.

Quick summary of what's ahead:
Enrolling for school
Transferring credits
Getting financial aid straight
Signing up for classes
My first course
Required "Groups"
Switching academic programs