Personal Perspective Paper

Personal Perspective Paper

MBA 500

Foundations of Problem-Based Learning

May 4, 2006

Personal Perspective Paper

The University of Phoenix's style of education evolved around numerous functional learning tools and has adopted formats that appeal to students with professional experience. The value of the university's unique learning style is made evident to students as they apply learned practices as well as course material to their workplace. This learning style is possible through the cohesive use of online resources, team collaboration, and problem-based learning.

The Value of rEsource

The Open rEsource system is a web-based collection of tools that the University of Phoenix makes available to enrolled students. These tools provide many functions and are critical to the success of the student, regardless of the course material, and are meant to aid the student throughout an entire degree program. The primary functions of the tools are to educate, aid in research, and improve upon writing skills. The prominent tools within the Open rEsource system that exemplify these functions are: the eBook Collection, the University Library, and the Center for Writing Excellence (CWE).

The eBook Collection is an online document indexing system that allows access to textbooks and manuals that are required for any course available at the University of Phoenix. These books may be accessed regardless of the course being taken by the student, thus allowing for additional research material, and from a monetary perspective making the eBook Collection the most valuable resource available to a student. Whereas normally a student would spend hundreds of dollars to purchase textbooks only relevant to the current course, the collection grants access to hundreds of books for less than the cost of one physical textbook. The online books are displayed by chapter for easy navigation and the entire publication may be downloaded in Adobe Acrobat format for offline use. When downloaded for offline use the publication is protected by Digital Rights Management (DRM), which is an encryption tool that prevents illegal copying of the material.

The University Library is another online collection of publications available through the Open rEsource system. The University Library predates the eBook Collection but still acts as a valuable research tool. The library collection provides searchable databases of periodicals, books, and dissertations. Encyclopedias, dictionaries, and journal indexes are also available to students through this tool as well as company directories and financials. Students will find this to be a valuable resource when performing research for coursework or when searching for a relevant case study. The research material available within the University Library databases makes this tool essential to completing coursework that accurately references real business scenarios, a cornerstone to the education methods employed at the University of Phoenix.

The Center for Writing Excellence is an Open rEsource tool that should be utilized by students for reviewing all papers that will be submitted for any course attended at the University of Phoenix. In addition to having services available in Spanish, the CWE has three online utilities that are available to students: Plagiarism Checker, WritePoint SM, and Tutor Review. These utilities are best described by the CWE web page (n.d.):

1. Plagiarism Checker: "This utility promotes originality in student work, improves student writing and research skills, encourage [sic] collaborative learning, and saves valuable instructor time. Plagiarism Checker instantly identifies papers containing unoriginal material."

2. WritePoint SM: "WritePoint provides feedback on basic grammar, usage, and some formatting issues by inserting comments into the text of your paper. Generally, a paper can be processed within a matter of minutes."

3. Tutor Review: "By uploading your course-assigned written materials for review, you will receive detailed feedback on how you can improve your academic papers and your writing style in general. The feedback will focus on format, grammar, organization, punctuation, and usage, but not course content."

The CWE utilities will directly assist students with improving their writing skills and their use of the American Psychological Association (APA) writing format, which is a necessary competency for successfully completing a degree program with the University of Phoenix. The value derived from improving individual writing skills will also have a visible and lasting effect on person's performance in the workplace. Projects teams are perhaps where the depth of an individual's writing talents become most apparent and can greatly affect a person's ability to positively contribute to group success.

The Value of Learning Teams

Learning teams are a fundamental part of the University of Phoenix's education delivery method. In essence the teams should promote peer interaction and develop group dynamics; a critical part of succeeding in real workplace project teams. When acting as a member of a team an individual is likely to encounter ethical dilemmas, cultural and language barriers, personal conflicts, and unfamiliar material. For most people improving teamwork skills can only be obtained through practical experience, which is the true value of the learning teams employed by the University of Phoenix. Like business project teams, the learning team should have a charter that clearly defines the group goals