I have a phone interview with UoP

So I applied to UoP for the third time. This time it was for a Social Studies Education position. I actually heard back from them this time, and tomorrow I have a phone interview. I'm tremendously excited. Then again, so is my wife who teaches for UoP. She really wants to see if she gets a little "bonus" because she referred me.

I looked over the course they'd like me to consider, and it seems pretty straight forward. I'm looking forward to the interview, and will gladly post updates.

-Matt

 

Excellent - third time's a charm! Let us know how you make out!

 

Matt, good luck!

 

My phone interview went very well. My recruiter was very pleasant and informative. I heard back from her this afternoon, and she would like me to move forward to the training portion of the application process. I'm very excited. My only concern is that the training starts on the 18th of August, and they need all of my official transcripts by next friday! WOW!

I was able to do a rush on the APU and WNMU transcripts, but Walden and Christopher Newport don't have that option. Of course THOSE are the two universities where I actually have earned a degree. I faxed the request today, and I am just going to cross my fingers that they get there in time.

They have my unofficial copies... I would hope that would be enough for the time being, since I'm not actually teaching a course yet. I'm just worried because it says that if they don't get the transcripts in time, that could cause my status to be terminated. I can't really control school registrars and the mail. I don't really think that's fair, but I guess they can do whatever they want.

-Matt

 

UOP has faculty training going on all of the time. I would think your worst case would be that you would just get pushed into the next group if your transcripts do not arrive in time.

 

I agree. I had the same timeframe requirements and I think I made it just by the skin of my teeth. The recruiters just want to keep the process moving, but you can catch the next session if needed.

However, having to produce transcipts fast is the reason that I did all my post-MBA work at one place (APU/AMU) instead of multiple ones, so I just have two post BA transcripts instead of multiple ones.

 

Yes, the only transcripts they needed were for my BA and MS. Of course those were the two schools that don't allow online ordering of transcripts and don't offer express service. Oh well. I'll just have to wait and see. When my wife went through this, she just made it in time. I'm hoping that since it's the summer it will be somewhat quiet in the admin offices and the schools will be able to crank out my transcripts quickly.

-Matt

 

After having to do this with a couple fo schools, I ordered sealed copies of my transcripts to keep on file that I can mail ASAP if allowed to directly submit them. I

 

I did that too. Walden and CNU don't charge for transcripts, so I have a few on hand. Unfortunately, UoP specifically said the transcripts had to come directly from the school and that they would not accept transcripts which were marked "Issued to Student" even if they were still sealed.

They did mention this electronic transcripts thing. Unfortunately, UoP was the only school I've taken classes through which utilizes it.

-Matt

 

Matt, I wouldn't worry about it that much. Yes, they want the transcript fast, but they realize it takes a while for certain schools to get the information to them. They'll work off the unofficial transcript until the real one arrives.

 

Good Luck

Good luck Matt from a Walden Alum! I am still trying to get the first gig. I have come close to some face to face and online but not any closers yet....

Determined Adjunct

 

>>

Hey! That's exciting!!!

 

Wow... I guess I didn't have to worry about my transcripts after all. I got word from my recruiter that we're ready to go, AND my training got moved up a week. I start on Tuesday. Woohoo!

-Matt

 

That's great. When does your "day" job start? And are you taking a class too? Training is intense, but I'm sure you know that if your wife teaches there.

And I hope your wife gets the bonus!

 

We do too!

I'm actually a little pleased the training got moved up a week. Teachers go back to work on the 26th, but school doesn't actually start until September 8th. Luckily the training will be over by then. I am taking 6 credits through WNMU which start on the 18th. I'm really not too worried though. From what the recruiter and my wife have said, a good chunk of the training is on how to use the online learning system. Both have said that since I had taken courses with UoP, I should already be somewhat familiar with it.

I'll see though. I'm just excited to get moving along with it. They approved me to teach 4 courses, so I'm interested in how that will pan out. I'll definitely post some experiences as I go.

-Matt

 

That's great!

Sounds good. I struggled in the UoP 4-week training because I was working and teaching too...not enough sleep for those weeks! I may have done more than was required but I didn't want to fail by missing one post or something like that and I don't like to do a poor job at anything.

I can't remember...have you taught at the college level before or is this your first (I know you teach HS...)?

 

I teach high school. This year I'll be teaching a 200 level political science course for high school seniors and facilitating a 100 level US History course for juniors. (I'll take the US History course over full time next year.) So technically this will all be "firsts" for me, but I'm really excited about all of it!

-Matt

 

Update

I just thought I'd provide an update on my progress with UoP.

I completed the training portion on Monday. Wow! It took a lot more of my time than I realized. I ended up dropping one of my courses with WNMU. During the first week, I accidentally submitted something a few hours late. While this did cause me to get a "Needs Improvement" mark, I was still recommended for the second part of the training, which I actually enjoyed. The activities in week two were more relevant to UoP, which was interesting to go through considering I had experience with the school as a student. I received my feedback form today, and I was recommended for the Mentorship Phase.

I'm loooking forward to it, but I wonder how long it will be before it happens. When my wife completed the training, it was a few months before she actually did the mentorship. I'm hoping mine is not that far out.

-Matt

 

Congrats Matt. I agree that the training was intense but useful both to UoPx and other teaching gigs. With the UoPx model, it would be too hard to learn-as-you-go, like I did on my first online class. My mentor was outstanding and a nice guy, and of course you get paid for the mentoring class. My mentoring class was scheduled about two weeks later, although some classmates got theirs the next day.

A tip: Keep all of your comments as you go along in your mentorship class and cut-n-paste them into documents by week. Then when you teach the class again, pull them up. I have class-specific helpful hints for my students, targeted follow-up questions to the suggested discussion postings, excel spreadsheets given to me by other instructors etc., all of which are considerably reducing my work in my second teaching assignment.

 

Right on Matt! Way to go.

I had a friend that taught with UOP. She is ABD with NCU right now. It seems like when she got her teaching gig, the doors really opened up in her professional life as well.

Have a good one,

Abner