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.

BA...

BA? No, it's not what you're thinking.

I'll pause here, and say a big THANK YOU for all your kind messages offline about this. It's been a roller coaster ride for me and a learning curve. In all, even though it feels as though I'm drowning...

...I'm doing just fine. :-)

After a myriad of emails with academic support on this. I got to understand that WA (withdrawn academically) is just a grade given with respect to the module not with the entire degree itself. Ope o! 
So as at today, I'm still enrolled at the University, awaiting the notification for the opening of the module so I can re-register (by paying 800 Euros again) and retake the module. In order words, BA...Begin Again.

Honestly, I don' feel happy about this, but I am grateful that I will be given another chance to re-register for the module.

Is there anyone here taking an online degree and have had to retake a module? How did that feel?
I'll really like to know.  Please do share.

Till next week Sunday (God willing)...even when it feels like this...

Odeshi!!!!

WA...

Now this is becoming interesting. Need I say, scary?

I waited a week, hoping this was all a dream, that I would wake up suddenly and hear differently.
No such luck.

So I logged into my student profile on the University website, and noticed WA was stated next to the module I was told I had to retake.

Huh?

WA? I didn't understand what that meant. At the same time, I was scared.
I summoned up whatever courage I had left within me and sent an email to the Tutor for clarifications. His reply, referring me to academic support for further clarifications almost had me literally fall off my seat. Academic support? Na so e don be now? 
Abi na email? I sent the email to academic support. And their response?

'Dear Ada, WA is the grade obtained for this module which means WITHDRAWN ACADEMICALLY'

The hot tears just did an unrestricted free fall on my face. The Office suddenly became hot and the heat lay thick as a towel.
I didn't read the rest of the email. I honestly can't remember if anything else was said after that line above.

Withdrawn Academically???
Wait, does this mean I have been academically withdrawn from the module or the entire degree? 
Ha!
Oh, I read the email just before the close of business at work and a colleague remarked,

'Na wa o. When no be Harvard?'  

Words fail me. How did I get here? How did this happen? All of this is not familiar.
Now this is not about the money anymore as I am more than willing to pay 2,000 Euros sef to get back on the programme.

WA...withdrawn academically?


Till next week Sunday (God willing)...

...while I seek further clarifications on WA

800 Euros!!!!!!

It's been some weeks since I submitted the 1st assignment. I just got caught up with work (it was peak period for me at work), a few work related trips, fell ill a couple of times...the days just went by too quickly and I lost track of time.

One Saturday while I was taking break from anchoring a work event, I got an email from my Tutor in my gmail account. That was pretty strange, as I thought I had deactivated email notifications from the University in my personal email:

'Dear Ada, 
The deadline for Assignment 2 had elapsed weeks ago, and I'm yet to receive yours.
Kindly let me know what your intentions are, and when you hope to send it in.'

That email was sent weeks ago!!!

How I missed that still beats me as I type this.
Anyway, I quickly sent a reply to the Tutor letting him know I'll send in the assignment in the next of couple of days. Before the work event ended, I received a rather prompt reply from my Tutor explaining that he sent that email to me weeks ago, and the extra time allotted had also elapsed, as a result, I'll have to take the course all over again, as the first assignment is 50% of the final grade and I need a total of 60% to move to the next module.

In other words, I will carry over the module - Organisations and HR Management.

WHAT?????

 Instantly, my life became a turgid and suspended film. Everything thickened.

A module I struggled with?
Nights reading and developing a headache while at it???? All gone??? I have to do it all over again???
I think my worry isn't about taking the module again (I can live with that)...it's the cost!
So you know, I pay per module and it is deducted from my University bank account. The cost of this module is 800 EUROS!!!! Oh no!!!!! Not even now that foreign currencies are doing jangolova on the foreign exchange rate table. Let me bring this home (Just incase you think I'm shouting over N20K), I mean I have to pay N180,000.00 (One Hundred and Eighty Thousand Naira) again ooooo! My own don done! Oh dear, how did this happen? What will I tell Mr Hubby? There goes my Christmas gift!!   :-(

My colleagues at the event knew something wasn't right with me. I told them what happened. And one of them said, 'what if you were pregnant and had a baby? Abeg send them an email telling them you just had a baby joor'
But that would be a lie na. I can't lie.

I got home and sent an email to academic support, explaining how I got super busy at work and fell ill a couple of times, pleading not to have to pay another 800 Euros.

Sunday was soooo slowwww. Slowed by sadness. I was frightened by the endless stretch of day that lay ahead.

And they replied on Monday morning. All my story didn't work. I need to take the module all over again and pay another 800 Euros. 

Till next week Sunday (God willing)...God abeg, help me survive this week.

She knows it all.

I did say I was going to talk about this.

Ever had that 'oversabi' classmate way back in Secondary school or at the University who just knew it all?
Welcome to my world! I'm stuck with one. :-(

To ensure we're (online students) actively engaged in the course, we're encouraged to create forum posts to discuss topics relating to the course content, assignments etc.
There is this Kenyan babe...she can create discussion topics ehn!!!! Choi! From HR practices in Kenya to the colour of the Sun! The annoying part is not the creation of posts and the infuriating notifications I receive when I log into the University website, thinking it's a message from my Tutor, it is the fact that she creates discussion topics, asking questions she already knows the answers to. Who does that? How do I know that? Na she dey ask the question, na still she dey answer am...how actively she pursued airless discussions.

To what end, I have continuously asked myself. To prove to the Tutor that she is on top of the course? (so you know, there are no extra marks for this) Or to prove to us (her fellow classmates) that we're just a bunch of God knows what. Trust my fellow classmates (Africans...typical), we have just left her to be creating discussion topics and discussing them all by herself.

On one occasion, she created a topic about the emergence of bitcoin in an economy (a sub-topic on the course content that till date, I still don't understand what that has got to do with this HR module).
I desperately needed someone to talk about that as I have, sort of, indirectly asked the Tutor about this. I decided to reply the discussion thread by asking her how this relates to the course content. Her response? Not the answer I expected. Not an answer at all.

She was aggressively friendly...glad someone dropped by.
She talked about everything else but my question...not on the discussion thread by the way (for obvious reasons), but via a private chat message to me. She probably didn't want the Tutor and anyone else to know, as a first, that she didn't know the answer to that question.

Hmm...till next week Sunday (God willing)...like everything else, this too shall pass.