My Right Arm

For my new adventure, I naturally needed a new laptop.  Now really, I could've gotten by with my old desktop, custom built by me in 2009 and still running strong, but that would've meant I was doing most of my studying either in the basement or on my iPad (which wouldn't work for practical IT courses).  My husband has a laptop, but I didn't want to encroach on his tech, and I have a work laptop, but ethics and all, no personal stuff on work device, etc.

I began a search for the perfect laptop for me.  I personally have never had a laptop all to myself, it usually been my husband's laptop that I borrowed occasionally.  After all, I have my huge beast of a PC in the basement to use, and with the advent of the iPad and iPhone, there really are very few day to day things I can't do from my mobile devices.  This was going to be my very own laptop.

I knew that the following attributes were non-negotiable:

• SSD at least 512GB
• 7th or 8th generation i7 processor
• At least 8 GB RAM
• Dedicated graphics card
• 14-15"
• Full keyboard with number pad
• Not too bulky/heavy
• Windows 10 Pro
• Under budget

Wishlist items included:

• Touchscreen
• 4K
• 16 GB RAM
• Secondary hard drive
• Backlit keyboard
• Fingerprint reader
• Many USB ports
• Not look like a gaming machine (bulky, black and red, etc)

I looked at Dell, HP, ASUS and Lenovo and generally liked the look and feel of the slim laptops.  XPS, Studio, Zenbook, etc.  I knew I couldn't get what I wanted in a Mac, #1 because of OS and #2, you just can't get comparable specs in a Mac for a reasonable price.  I considered the gaming PCs, as they generally had all the power I wanted in a reasonably priced package, but the size and design just screamed "here comes a gamer", it's not what I wanted my laptop to say about me.

I finally landed on the Lenovo IdeaPad 720s 15" touchscreen laptop, and I bought it from Costco.com.  My work laptops the last 5 years have been Lenovo touchscreens and I've loved them in general.  This model meets all of my requirements and most of my wishlist items.  Sadly, it only has 1 conventional USB 3.0, the other 2 peripheral ports are USB-C, though one is thunderbolt.  It also doesn't have a secondary hard drive.  I decided I could live without these things.

There are a few small things I don't like about it, the battery isn't made to be customer replaceable, the edges are all sharp when you run your fingers along them or rest your wrists on the edges, the whole thing shows fingerprints something terrible and the power brick gets pretty toasty.

Those little things aside, I love it.  It's light.  From the time I hit the power button to when I've got a desktop is less than 30 seconds.  Launching programs, playing games, installing updates, running utilities and scans, it's FAST.  The screen is beautiful and overall the thing looks classy!  This is an awesome little machine and I look forward to seeing what it can do.  I also got a wireless mouse, lapdesk, backpack, and USB-C adapters for standard USB and HDMI.  Now I just need to come up with a pet name for it.  Any suggestions?

Spreadsheets - Passed

This is another super easy course for me.  I am Microsoft Office Specialist Master Certified in Excel from years ago, but that isn't a certification that they take into account for credit.  So, I needed to get through this course.

Similarly to Intro to IT, I started with the pre-assessment.  I think it took me 3 hours and I passed.  I know my stuff, but I'm rusty enough that the more cumbersome formulas took some concentration.  I was also very distracted by my family while I was trying to complete it.  I used my coaching report to guide my studies and focused on those areas that were weakest/slowest for me.  That included reviewing statistical formulas, text searching, amortization formulas and 2 Excel features that I knew nothing about, the What If table and the Solver feature.  In reading posts from my my fellow students the pre-assessment and the actual exam are almost exactly the same, so that's great news for those preparing for this course.  Other topics covered in this course include basic formulas, logic formulas, v/hlookup, concatenation, charts, graphs, pivot tables, and cell/worksheet references.  I studied for about 8 hours total over 3 evenings to prepare for this exam.  I did not use the course tips or course chatter.

Things to note, you have to have Microsoft Excel installed on your PC.  WGU students can get Microsoft Office 365 for free following this link and using their WGU account info.

The only requirement for this course is the OA from home.  It took me less than 2 hours to complete and I received an Exemplary score of 97.9%.

Intro to IT - Passed!

I've worked in IT for over 15 years, and in the past I passed an old version of A+ hardware, so I do have some good broad general IT knowledge.  My approach to this course was to first take the pre-assessment.  It was a test the same length as the real test, I passed with about 80%.  Then I looked at the coaching report to see where I got answers wrong and what subjects I needed to study more.  In my case most of my failing was in the area of networks, historically not my area of exposure.  I read through the course modules and did the quizzes for those topics, which took about 3 hours.  I then looked at the course tips and watched the pre-recorded videos for the course, which took about 2 hours.  I took a glance through the course chatter (a chat roll for students enrolled in the course) to see if there were any tips or tricks, but I didn't find anything I didn't already know.  All in all, I spent less than 6 hours over 2 evenings studying for this course, basically brushing up on knowledge and filling in a few gaps.

At that point I felt pretty confident that I could handle the exam.  Everyone is different, I've seen in Facebook groups where those with no IT background have spent weeks studying for this course.  I've read of IT professionals that just turned it on and took the test the same night.  That's the great thing about competency based education.  I don't have to spend time studying things I already know.  I can easily evaluate my baseline knowledge, fill in the gaps, pass an exam and move on.

The only requirement to pass this course was an OA (objective assessment, proctored exam) on my own PC at home.  Time is money and I'm going to move as fast as I reasonably can through the stuff I know, so I can get to the stuff I don't.  Which in my program is most of it, but that's ok.  I'll get through it one class at a time.

I passed with an "Exemplary" 91%!

Do Not Disturb - OA in Progress

Well, my building anxiety surrounding the process of proctored exams was finally explored this evening as I took my first Objective Assessment.

I requested the activation of the OA for Intro to IT from my mentor on Monday, July 9th.  Judy turned it on quite promptly, it was less than 10 min.  I then went through the process of scheduling my exam, all times seemed to be available, even same day if I wanted to.  I scheduled it for today 7/11 at 7:00pm.  Once scheduled it appeared that if I needed to change my date/time, the rescheduling process is easy.

This evening, I turned on my PC at 6:30pm, went to the assessment website, went through the system check to make sure everything was working and then started my exam.  After a 10 min wait, I was finally connected to an exam proctor with the Examity service.  He was very nice and spoke clear English, I could hear there were other workers in his center, all with similar accents.  

We connected via GoToMeeting, which was launched automatically from the Examity platform.  He then requested my "government issued photo ID" (I showed my driver's license), which he seemed to take a photo of via the webcam.  Once he verified my identity, I had to move the webcam in a full 360 to show the surroundings, and specifically the desktop to be sure I had nothing to help me cheat.  He made me turn off my printer and show him both the front and backsides of my blank whiteboard.  He also checked my Task Manager to make sure I wasn't running additional programs.  Once the camera was pointed correctly showing my face, keyboard, monitor and the area around my computer, I had to electronically sign what was basically student code of conduct for exams.  I had to give him remote control of my PC and he entered a test activation code.  

The test began.  There were 3 hours allotted for the test, I was done in less than 35 min.  He was silent the entire test, and the window showing his live video feed was disabled while I was completing the test.  When I was done, I said so, he verified that it was complete, I said thank you and he disconnected.

Then I logged back into my student portal to see if I passed or not.  Good news!!!  I passed, with an "Exemplary" performance (the other options are "Competent" and "Failed").  From the app "Pocket WGU" it said my score was 91%.

Things to note about OAs.  Your desk must be clear.  I have an L-shaped desk with my monitor and keyboard in the "elbow".  My printer is at one end, which I was asked to turn off, and my Cricut machine and a bluetooth speaker are on the other end, I was not asked to do anything with them.  Otherwise the only things on my desk were my whiteboard and driver's license.  If I were taking a math related test a non-CAS calculator is permitted as well.  You can't have any other programs or webpages open on your PC.  I have Rubbermaid bins and craft boxes under my desk, this proctor didn't ask to see under my desk, but I wonder if that would've been an issue if he knew?  Your phone must be silent and out of sight.  The room must be free of noise, all screens (TVs, other PC monitors) must be off and no other people allowed in the room.  I have seen in my research if someone walks in the room during an OA the proctor disconnects and you have to reschedule.  Additionally, if you are 30 min late for your scheduled time, you have to reschedule.

So, yay!!!  I passed my first OA and am very proud of myself.  1 course down and 27 to go.  Now I don't have to worry about the OA process, and hopefully neither do you.  It was easy!

I'm a Night Owl!!!

New student swag arrived on my doorstep last week.  I received a box with several goodies.

It contained:

• A welcome letter with instructions
• Door hanger that says "Do Not Disturb, I'm Studying" and "Do Not Disturb, I'm taking a Test"
• Window cling WGU decal
• WGU approved whiteboard with marker
• Blue plastic mug that says "WGU" on one side and "Liquid Motivation" on the other
• Self standing webcam for taking proctored exams
• and a flyer about the WGU WellConnect service

The webcam is USB, I plugged it into my PC and the drivers auto installed with no issues.  I'm debating putting the decal on my car or laptop.  The door hanger is on the basement door upstairs waiting to be put into use.  The whiteboard has magnets on the back and is cheap, flimsy and creaseable.  You are allowed to use a different whiteboard of similar size if you wish for proctored exams.

Sadly it did not contain a shirt, which I knew from my research, but I was still hopeful.  I think years ago they included a shirt in the Student Success Kit.  To remedy that situation, I ordered myself a purple (my favorite color) WGU hoodie.  It's cozy and perfect for studying and taking tests in my cool basement.  Maybe I'll take a photo of it later.