And the results are in!

I'm sooooo sorry this is coming in on a Tuesday. *covers face*
Sunday was super hectic! I couldn't get around to blog. With the way my Sundays are going, should I just shift the call time to every Monday/Tuesday instead?

Anyway...the results for the Business Economics module are in!!!!!!!!!!!

What's my score? Take a guess.

*drums roll*
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


77%

I talk am say I go make una proud *shines teeth*
That is my highest grade so far. I'm super happyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU JESUS!

I pray it never gets below 77% :-)

Next module loading...

Till next week Sunday (are we still set on Sunday or should I move this to Monday/Tuesday?), God willing...

SIN Tax

That moment when you think you're the only one in the world thinking in a particular pattern? Nahhhh. Chill, for we are plenty.

So my homeboy in my previous blog post didn't quite stop there(I wish he did o). Another discussion topic about SIN tax on goods was posted on the forum and he dived right in. 

Oh, before I go into that, let me explain what SIN tax is. This is an excise tax placed on specific goods that have been considered harmful to the society. Some examples of these types of goods are cigarettes, alcohol etc. The tax placed is deliberate. It's purpose is to increase the price of the good, which in turn will reduce it's consumption. 

My homeboy just started off (no intro on the topic o) on how super expensive coca cola and biscuits are now because of the sin tax in place.

Ha! 

I think developed Countries are thinking of extending sin tax to certain soft drinks and snacks in a bid to curb obesity and diabetes. I don't think that has really taken off in Nigeria na...abi? While I was still ruminating on my 2 cents, contemplating on if I should finish reading his post, Oga Boss (another Nigerian in my online class) just jumped into the discussion thread. He started off with a build up from his previous post, in an attempt to point out all the inaccuracies.

Well he did. 

He highlighted Alaska, fuel scarcity (well, I think that has started again o...couldn't get fuel to buy over the weekend :-( ) in red while pointing them out. He ended by saying that it's no wonder fellow Nigerians 'commended' the post as my homeboy was clearly confusing the economy in Niger to Nigeria. 

Chai! No chill.

I just jejely respected my school fees by going through the comments I have dropped on previous posts, before Oga Boss will look my way.

Till next week Sunday, (so sorry this is coming on a Monday) God willing...
Be kind, people are going through tough situations you know nothing about.

Have a Fabulous February!

Discussion Forum.

As part of the final grading, we (online students) are encouraged...'forced' to participate in discussion forums. The discussion topics could range from assignment deadlines to any topic related to the module. Creating discussion forum post, posting a comment under an existing post, are all regarded as participation. Sometimes (Ok, actually most times), I don't even have the patience to read through the post. I sha do oju aiye (eye-service) and respond to a post with generic sentences like:

'Many thanks for the post. It was very enlightening'
'Very educative...thank you'
'Thanks for shedding light on this'

Just to show that I'm participating :-)
Some of my classmates will go as far as over 2,000 words on a discussion forum; like it's a full blown assignment. Guys, calm down! Stop making the rest of us (I just might be the only one) look lazy.

On a particular discussion forum, the Tutor asked us to briefly (keyword here is BRIEFLY, as we get to do it on a bigger scale via an assignment) compare the business environments in two countries. One of the two, should be our home country. As expected, most of my classmates didn't get the memo, as the posts were so lengthy, and yours truly did her usual generic sentences to form activity. :-)

A post from my fellow homeboy ( a Nigerian) caught my attention. In his post, he compared Nigeria and Alaska. Yes, you read right. Alaska.
Dude, seriously???

For a second, I thought I was seeing things, as I didn't have a good night sleep prior to reading that post. I know my geography isn't great, but one thing I do know is that Alaska is not a country. Then again, it must be a typographical error (or sense error? As some people still think Africa is a country?) ...you know, in the heat of the moment, to prove to the Tutor that he was the first person to respond to the discussion forum post, he must have typed Alaska instead of America? But why go as far as Alaska though? Whatever happened to Ghana, Cameroon, The Gambia?

Well, my homeboy didn't just stop there. He went on to explain how the current (but this is not happening anymore na? Abi is there still fuel scarcity in your area?) fuel crisis can cripple a budding business with the official pump price being N210.00 and the parallel market being N99.00?
 
Huh???

I think the most amusing part, is that some of my fellow Nigerian classmates did post a comment under his post, commending the lengthy inaccurate write-up.
Could it be that they didn't read the entire post? Do you think I should correct all the inaccuracies in the comment section of his post? Let it not look like I'm trying to show myself o?

Or I should just stick to my generic sentences? Or post nothing at all? Siddon look style? What do you think?

Till next week Sunday, God willing...lots of love from my heart and home to YOURS.

Business Economics

Hello!!!
How are you doing? I hope you had a great week and looking forward to another?
Chai, this month is so sloowwwwwww. Sinceeeeeeeee, it's just mid January. If it was December, it would have been the end of the month already!

Anyway, I have progressed to the Business Economics module like I mentioned in last week's blog post. The module basically examines economic and strategic managerial decisions under various economic and market conditions. It is very interesting as I get to compare business environments of countries, including Nigeria of course. You know we live in interesting times right now in Nigeria. The business environment in Nigeria at the moment is kind of confusing and stifling if one is an investor. Often times I think this country is being run by another country :-(  We say we practice a mixed economy here, but government intervention and policies makes it come off as some clandestine socialist economy.

Not to be caught unawares, I'm just going straight off at the assignments. But then, I noticed the deadline dates weren't quite stated on this module. So I sent an email to the course tutor for clarifications on submission deadline dates. Besides responding to my question, I noticed he took his time to clarify how he would like to be addressed...

My email:

Dear William (not his real name)
.......................................................

Ada.


His reply:

Dear Ada
........................................................

Dr William Randle

I didn't need a soothsayer to tell me that 'the first-name basis' does not apply here...at least not with him. I had addressed tutors in my previous modules with their first names.
In my next email to him, I was sure to address him as:

Dear Dr William (I never wan carry over this course, abeg)

This reminds me of a former colleague in my former place of work. Despite the rule that we should address everyone on first-name basis, everyone in that establishment called a certain set of people 'aunty' or 'uncle' so and so. That colleague of mine refused to call his line manager 'aunty'. (This is what too much studying in the abroad can cause o). He would always refer me to the employee handbook and insist on first-name basis as it was stated there. I often reminded him that this is N-I-G-E-R-I-A. Our culture is pretty much immersed in everything. The guy no gree o. Well, that didn't go down well with his line manager, who made certain he never got above 35% in his appraisal, despite being a fantastic team member. The guy got frustrated and left the organisation. O ma se o. 

My people, please what do you think about this aunty this or uncle that in the work place? Personally, I don't have an issue with sir or ma, but all this aunty and uncle stuff, e use to do me somehow sha. I still address them in that manner if that is how they want to be addressed. I don't want wahala o.

Let me know what you think in the comment section!

Till next week Sunday, God willing...take that step, because

Guess Who's Back???

ADAMILOLA!!! *covers face with hands*

Yes I know...I'm so sorry. I know you missed me. I missed you too! :-)

To those who took out time to check up on me, God bless you. To those who didn't, God bless you too. :-)

What happened abi? My dear, life happened in December and I couldn't blog.
Course work, 'home' work, office work, sim card issues etc. The list is endless.
Getting 3 hours of sleep at night suddenly became I luxury I couldn't afford.

I'm so glad to be back here!!!!

So how have you been? It's 2016!!! Happy New Year!!!! Why are you looking at me like that na? Abi is it still 2015 where you are? But I just apologized na? I'm sorrryyyyyyyy :-(
Forgive me. It's a new year o.

Ok, I'm back here...got some major school work coming up in a week, but I promise not to run away this time. :-)

A quick update on how it has been on this lane. Do you remember the feedback I got from the Tutor on assignment 1 & 2? You can check the blog post here Well the grades are out. The cut off score is 60%. I had 61% A.K.A LET MY PEOPLE GO.

Chai, not impressive at all, but I am grateful for the grade o. It could have been worse.
With the feedback from the Tutor and how I struggled to put the slides for the second assignment together, I thought I was going to 'carry over' the course again. Please, this is not an attempt to celebrate mediocrity, as I know I could have done way better. But this is me being real with you...telling you as it is, so tomorrow when those awards start rolling in, you'll remember my grass to grace story, and that it was not an easy something :-) Not making excuses for the rather low grade, but presently, I have more than enough on my plate... a wife, mother to two amazing super heroes (the younger of the two is the future wife of Prince George of England. By the way, I'm a Queen Mother of England in waiting o. Enjoy the blog now o...I cannot be blogging when I'm in Buckingham Palace :-) ),

                                                                       See my in-law :-)

  
full time job, an MBA and an online diploma in my field (yes, that too).

I have progressed to the next module - Business Economics and will tell you all about it in my next blog post. This I promise you, on this module and subsequent modules till I graduate, I will do better.

So what are your goals for 2016? Further studies? A better job? Travel the world? Mentor young people? Whatever it is, ask God to bless it, that you may be sucessful in carrying them out. You can have it all...all GOOD THINGS.

Till next week Sunday, God willing...

N.B - Please if you sent me a message during the yuletide and didn't get a response, I'm sorry. I changed my phone and lost some contacts and most messages.

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...