FEEDBACK

With assignment 1 and 2 submitted and out of the way, I thought I had ample time for other 'important' things like watching reruns of movies on Africa Magic Yoruba. Boy, was I wrong!
I didn't log into the University portal when I was done with the assignment, but when I did some days later, I got an email notification from the Tutor of the course.
My heart missed a beat.
Actually, the email from the Tutor was sent some hours after I submitted the assignments. 
Subject of the email? FEEDBACK...in caps.

The content of the email:

'A sound, well constructed submission. However, the paper is largely a theoretical commentary and needs to think more about questioning. At this stage of education (post graduate), the student is required to question, challenge and searchingly examine theories, policies and statements. There should be more critical thinking, critical analysis and critical evaluation of the materials studied.'

If my memory serves me correctly, this is the second time I am being, obviously reminded of the stage of this education...adult student...post graduate. Chai. :-( 

After I read that, I just wanted to crawl under my bed and cry. I don't think life is this hard! 

I spent next to eternity preparing those slides. Oh, did I mention that referencing an assignment isn't the regular copy and paste link style that is being practiced here? If I spend weeks on the main assignment, I'll be sure to spend a couple of days referencing the paper via the Harvard referencing system! That thing is hard and most times, confusing.
Yet, after all the initial gra-gra, the paper submitted is largely a theoretical commentary. This is just SAD.

While I was contemplating on whether to crawl under my bed and cry, or pick myself up and do this again much more intellingently, Mr Hubby walked into the room (he must have heard me airing my grievances like jewels), there was, in his expression, a veiled amusement. He placed a hand on my shoulder and said 'no worry, you too sef go make us proud'. That was all the adrenaline I needed to pick myself up. 

I know you might go like 'if it is this hard, why bother?' Well, because I know there is a price for anything good. And a good thing, I want.
I am reminded of a couple of my female friends, married with kids, full time jobs, on to their PhD degrees. One of them was writing her final thesis and was on the 38th page, when the supervisor told her it didn't cut it, and she needs to rewrite the entire paper. She cried for days! The other is off social media entirely until she is done with the programme. 

So here I am, encouraging myself as I encourage you...I can do this. You can do this. Never a time like the present. Let's get this done with God's help.

Till next week Sunday, God willing...

Assignment 1 & 2

Assignment 1 was ready for upload 'decades ago'. Remember I had prepared this with Mr Hubby's assistance when I was taking the module for the first time? I uploaded it and made certain I got a donotreply notification on the submission...ain't nobody got time to retake any module because an assignment submission didn't go through.

Assignment 2 was a bit confusing though. I didn't quite understand what was expected of me. The question was to assemble a HR toolkit. There were a couple of options on how to assemble this. I decided to use a power point presentation. The confusing part was, am I expected to assemble a HR toolkit on all the functions of strategic human resource management or just a couple? If it's on all the functions of SHRM, then the slides will be over a 100 and counting! That can't be it.

I sent an email to the Tutor about this. I desperately needed further clarification. But the emails just kept on going back and forth. I can tire for endless emails ehnn. I could have sworn he was being a bit evasive while explaining...being extra careful not to give away the answer while trying to explain? But in all, it's either he was not explaining it clearly or I just simply do not understand. :-(
Have you ever been in this kind of situation? You're asking your Tutor for an explanation on an academic question, and he is just going round and round in circles, that you can literally feel your head spinning?

I'm at the verge of imploring another 'tombo tombo' mechanism here. If you don't understand what this means, please read my blog post on this here
 
I can almost hear you say, but this is not multiple choice answer question na? Serious theory!!! 
Kai! I'm just tired.

Children of God, I cannot come and kill myself abeg.

Till next week Sunday, God willing...

What do you think?

I received an email from a fellow Nigerian course mate some weeks ago. I wanted to address it on my blog back then, but that time, ground no level.
Everything is OK now, so I think I should it bring it up here so I can get to know what you think about it.

In a nutshell, he wanted to have my take on the press release by the National Universities Commission (NUC) on the 25th of July this year, about online degrees not being acceptable in Nigeria.

 

Please see an excerpt according to The Guardian Newspaper below:

''The National Universities Commission (NUC) has warned Nigerians against patronizing online universities and other degree awarding institutions operating online saying any certificate obtained from such institutions is not recognized.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday at the Headquarters of the Commission, the Director, Information and Public Relations, Ibrahim Usman Yakasai stressed that degrees obtained online are not accepted in the country.
He said: “Nigeria will not recognise online degrees. Online degrees are not accepted in Nigeria at the moment.” 

I know most of us must have read about it months ago. Abi?

My take? Simple. When I read this, I just said to myself, this MBA online degree is for my personal development, not to seek employment in NUC (National Universities Commission), NYSC (National Youth Service Corps), NUJ (National Union of Journalists), NPA (Nigerian Ports Authority), NTA (Nigerian Television Authority), NFF (Nigeria Football Federation), NPF (Nigeria Police Force), NPC (National Population Commission)...and all the N agencies in Nigeria you can think of. :-)

The snag would be an online Bachelor degree where the student would have the NYSC posting and call up to deal with. But then again, there are fewer online Bachelor degree courses available and the average young Nigerian student, even matured students, wouldn't opt for that.

Need I go on about how demanding an online education is compared to it's traditional counterpart? Or how thorough the tutors are because it is an online environment?

So what do you think? With the world being a global village, is this a step in the right direction for the NUC? Let me know what you think in the comment section below.

Till next week Sunday, God willing...What's that thing you have been putting off?

You've got mail!

Yes! The long-awaited email...MODULE AVAILABLE FOR REGISTRATION...music to my ears :-)

I almost began to feel another flash of impatience when I received the email for module registration on Wednesday. Immediately, I clicked on the link to register because it had about 15 spaces left. The speed with which the 800 Euros was deducted from my University bank account...faster than the speed of light.
The module will be officially made available on the University portal tomorrow - Monday. But my greatest fear has been confirmed...I will be writing assignments all through the Christmas holidays! *wailing* :-(
No fire works for me this Christmas. (sighs)

So what do I have planned as I retake this module you might ask?

1. No Africa Magic Yoruba till the 27th of December - This just feels like 100 days fasting. No matter how my day goes, I make it a point of duty to watch at least 20 minutes of any movie showing on Africa Magic Yoruba. It still beats me why I still can't speak Yoruba fluently without my intonation giving me away. Mr Hubby has given up on me on this one. :-(

2. No work email after 1.00am - Yes...I take work home...there are really no work hours with me until I am too tired to sound coherent in an email. Yes, I know all the talk about work life balance blah blah blah...please feel free to attack me in the comment section :-)

3. Pounce on the module from the first minute of it's opening - The moment the module opens tomorrow, I'm sending in my first assignment, and will begin to put the second assignment together. I will be sure not to make the same mistake again.

4. Be kind to myself - I must admit, I have been hard on myself since I was informed that I had to retake this module. I had beaten myself up over this...blaming myself that I had settled for what was not academically familiar. This time, I will be kind to myself as one of my blog readers - Temitope George - Olaoye advised in the comment section of my first blog post. Thank you Temitope.

Got any more tips for me? How best do you think I should begin again? Please drop your tips and advise in the comment section below.

And to some of my blog readers who have contacted me via email and in person, saying they don't know how to drop a comment on this blog, please see the pathway below:

Scroll down to the end of the blog post - click on comments - scroll to the end of the comment section - you will see an empty box watermarked 'Enter your comment' - Type your comment in the box - go to the comment as drop box - you can drop a comment with your name, your gmail account ID or anonymous - click on publish - wait till you get a notification that your comment has been published.

 Till next week Sunday, God willing...

The waiting game continues.

There are two things I really dislike:

1. Waiting
2. Waiting for food :-(

The University portal is still not accessible to re-register for the HR module. I have sent quite a number of emails to academic support this week to assist with this.
Prior to all of this 'drama', their response time to my email is usually in some hours (I think time difference is also a factor) or worse case scenario, 24 hours. Now, after dem don see me finish, dem no dey kuku answer my email again. I'm still awaiting a response to an email I sent since Wednesday.
So here I am, waiting. If I'm not prompted via an email to log into the site and re-register, na so I go dey wait. Do they even realize that Christmas is just around the corner? I cannot be studying and writing assignments when 'my daughter's mate' are throwing knock-outs, bangers and bisco. :-(

I just don't like waiting for anything (God help me, patience is a virtue o). Worse still, when I have to wait for food.
This reminded me of a quick lunch I had to do while meeting some clients some months ago.
So you see ehn, ewa agoyin is my favourite meal. I bet you were expecting me to go all continental on that. Sorry to burst your bubble.

And if you don't understand what ewa agoyin means, I'm sorry, I can't help you here; ask ya fellow blog readers or google. Ewa agoyin is too delicious to put in words. An attempt to do so will reduce the efficacy of it.
So, that's how I had about an hour to kill in between meetings and I quickly asked the driver to do a quick stop over to my favourite restaurant which serves ewa agoyin on it's daily menu.
Restaurant? Yes. While growing up, I had horrible diarrhea and typhoid fever experiences from buying ewa agoyin by the roadside...you know those women hawking it?

With this restaurant, there is really no difference. Just like what you have on the street, just better hygienic conditions.
Anyway, I got to the restaurant, sat on my favourite spot and placed my order. The waiter that took my order did say it was available and it will be served in 5 minutes.
Na so 5 minutes turn to 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35...(Yes, I waited that long. Time wasn't going to put asunder what has been joined together). Only for the waiter to turn up 45 minutes later ( I was already pissed) to say they had 'issues' with the shombo (dried chilli pepper). I just couldn't deal biko.

I was so upset that the next client could tell from my pitch and I had to tell her about it. :-(

So I wait. I hope I'll be notified this week. I hope November turns out really well for you and I.

Till next week Sunday, (God willing)... may we remember November for GOOD.