As an online student at Western Governors University Indiana, I had a very pleasant educational experience. At the same time, I learned about some issues that wouldn’t have caused me trouble had I known what to avoid. As a student at WGU Indiana, or any of the branches of WGU, life will be much easier if the following things are avoided.
1.) ProctorU
WGU Indiana is an online university, so all the exams are given online. Rather than making students go to a library or school to have tests proctored, the school sends you a webcam and uses a third-party site to proctor your tests. ProctorU and Kryterion are the current companies they use.
The process is easy enough. You hook up the webcam and connect with one of the sites, then take your test while they observe you. For some reason, ProctorU has to reset just about everything before each test. In the end, you’re already stressed out over the test and then you spend about an hour trying to actually take the test before you even get access to it. By the time you get to the first question, you know far more about the process of setting up than you do about the subject matter at hand. This single issue was the most significant thing I was glad to say goodbye to when I finished my degree. If you find yourself getting ready to take a test and you have the option to use ProctorU or Kryterion, stick with Kryterion.
2.) Transferring Mid-Semester or Immediately Following Graduation
WGU Indiana enrolls new students every month. This is fine for people who have never been to college, but there is sometimes an issue with financial aid if you just finished a semester or just graduated. The problem is that financial aid runs for a full school year. When I got my AS from the local community college, I wanted to start working on my bachelor’s right away. Since I had already used my financial aid for two semesters that year, I couldn’t get any more until the next school year started.
3.) Changing Themes
WGU Indiana is a competency-based program, so they put a lot of stock in capstone projects: basically a sequenced collection of all the tasks you have been working on. For example, in the master’s program I had to put together a collection of lesson plans, research, and research-based documents that apply to one particular lesson I was trying to support. Because I had some new ideas as I was taking my classes, some of the documents I had created didn’t apply to the capstone project. I had to start all over and make some new ones. Had I realized that I could have used just about every document I had developed for previous classes to complete my capstone project, I could have put it together in a matter of hours because everything would have already been done.
4.) Student Loans
WGU Indiana has enough scholarships and partnerships that you really don’t need student loans. Use them if you need them, but avoid them if possible. Be sure to file your FAFSA on time so you can avoid student loans by meeting the criteria for state grants and scholarships.
5.) TaskStream
Every task completed by WGU students is graded by a third party system called TaskStream. They added a new feature this year: you can now see where your assignment stands in line. I, like just about every other WGU Indiana student, thought this was a fantastic feature because we no longer had to wait with no idea at all when to expect our grades back. We were wrong. That feature turned every one of us into relentless TaskStream stalkers and impromptu IT gurus, suddenly offering each other suggestions about how we had somehow moved backwards in line. As with every school, WGU Indiana has a few negative points. The upside is that students can avoid these pitfalls with some planning, simply by focusing on completing all of the program’s elements with one solid theme in mind.
Kathy Foust holds a Master’s of Education in instructional design as well as a Bachelor of Arts in elementary education and special education. She currently works from home as a freelance writer with a focus on instructional materials.
Frequently asked questions
- How are exams proctored at WGU Indiana?
- Online, through a third-party site: the school sends you a webcam and connects you with ProctorU or Kryterion. ProctorU has to reset just about everything before each test, costing about an hour before you even reach the first question, so the author recommends Kryterion when you have the choice.
- Why wait to transfer to WGU Indiana right after another college?
- Financial aid runs for a full school year. The author finished her AS at a community college, but having already used aid for two semesters that year, she couldn't get more until the next school year started.
- What is a capstone project at WGU Indiana?
- A sequenced collection of the tasks and documents you have built across your classes. In the master's program, the author assembled lesson plans and research-based documents supporting one lesson; documents made earlier can usually be reused, so keep one solid theme in mind from the start.
- Do WGU Indiana students need student loans?
- Usually not: the school has enough scholarships and partnerships. File your FAFSA on time so you can meet the criteria for state grants and scholarships, and use loans only if you truly need them.
- What is TaskStream at WGU Indiana?
- The third-party system that grades every completed WGU task. Its queue-position feature was meant to show where your assignment stands, but it turned students into relentless TaskStream stalkers who traded IT tips about mysteriously moving backwards in line.