Initials for What?

Sorry for not explaining certain item used in my last post.  I still have ideas in my head but have not had much opportunity for sitting down and turning them into posts.  Today feels like a Saturday and I don’t know how I will be able to get into the swing of things as I have accepted a work assignment at Canyonville for the remainder of the week – and so may not get things typed up still. 

APA can stand for American Planning Association or American Poolplayers Association.  I created one post in which I refered to APA as American Preparatory Academy.  For the most part my APA references and what seems to be most popular for Google Reference is American Psycholgical Association -  which is a style of writing.  The “proper” style.  It often seemed like APA format was more important than the contents.  What’s up with that?  Also, many professors seemed to prefer third person as opposed to first.  I am grateful to those that allowed or even preferred first.   

https://www.mendeley.com/guides/apa-citation-guide

Owl Purdue is a website that adds complication and confusion to APA use – at least in my opinion.  Now that I understand what it is, I might be able to understand it better than I did in 2016.  But Owl Purdue is NOT the only website to refer to APA nor is it the most easily understood.

Final Assignment

           

            As I have mentioned in my online-themed posts, there is a daily checkpoint question given each day.  For the most part the questions will be on the class subject of that particular week. The basic classes (the ones given to brand new students) will often throw in questions about finances and career choices. The economy class I had recently taken was/is a basic class.

            I had originally decided to approach my assignment from a different angle as I had asked my instructor about non-profit organizations during one of the lectures.  I had wondered it any would be considered oligopolies and so had pulled up references for that.  I had actually tried three or four approaches before I had about 20-30 references.  I knew I would not end up using them all and actually ended up going in the same direction as my post.  I called my final assignment  "Show Me the Money"  and added a thesis statement though I probably didn't need one since it was a starter class for many of my peers.

             APA Style is the writing style that is required by the school.  APA stands for American Psychological Association.  Many instructors seem to put a greater emphasis on the style itself than they do with the content.  I think that is annoying.  I had more examples, but it was only supposed to be 600 words and I have over 800.  I'm pleased that I have received full credit for this assignment.  I double spaced for the assignment itself, but will do not so here.  It just looks weird as a post.

                                                   Show Me The Money Conflict

            "Everyone  should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized. - Albert Einstein.

            All people deserve to be treated with respect regardless of  what position they hold.  A single mother struggling to put food on the table should not be treated as though she does not matter, nor should a president of a large company expect to be worshiped or take advantage of others because he has more money or power.  We are all human beings, not statistics. Oligopolies and poverty levels are statistics.

            An Oligopoly can be defined as a few large firms that control a larger percentage of the market than all the other competitors put together (Study, 2013).  Oligopolies form from competition and advertising enticing the customer into believing that theirs is the best product (O. Market, 2017) .  They do this by offering goods at a lower cost or a deal of "buy one get one free" or some other "reward" for purchasing said product from them and not their competitors.

            For example, there are several cell phone providers - but according to study.com (2013)  it appears that AT&T  and Verizon deal with more than half the consumers' cell phone plans, followed by T-Mobile and Sprint.  Those four cell phone plan providers make up for 99% of all consumers with cell phone plans leaving every other cell phone provider all lumped into one percent.

            Some of the lures these markets have used is, "keep your same cell phone number" "switch for free" "we will pay your old phone bill if you make the switch" and there are consumers who actually go back and forth between companies trying to get the best deal. Then there are those who choose not to deal with the larger companies because they all seem to fail at great quality customer service.  It is not just cell phone plans that have an oligopoly, but fast food chains as well.

            I have never considered the food industry as having oligopolies and yet Welker's Game Theory (2013) used two popular food chains to explain oligopoly.  Burger King and McDonald's have long time seemed like rivals - trying to outdo one another enticing consumers with prices or selling how the  meat is cooked or how fast service.

            Some people are under the impression that it is the American Dream to get ahead, to build an empire and earn billions of dollars.  That may be the case for some, but not all Americans have that dream.  According to The Founder, the McDonald Brothers had set up shop just to make an honest living.  It was not their dream to blow up so big that they would lose control over a concept they had.  Ray Kroc believed it was his dream to head a food empire and kept the McDonalds name, though the McDonald brothers were no longer involved.   Kroc paid a high price - though not as high a price as did the McDonald brothers (Hancock, 2016).

            According to 20/20  the top six fast food chains - including Burger King and McDonald's -  made up for 6.6 billion dollars in 2015 and yet 52% of their employees are on some kind of welfare assistance.  The cameras followed Terrance Wise, who worked for both McDonald's and Burger King.  As he spent most of his day either working or traveling to get there, it gave him little time to spend with his family.  It's disheartening as he watches unsold food being thrown away (Reality, 2017).

                        I live in Douglas County, which once was a thriving community.  Sawmill workers may have had dreams about how they would spend their money after they retired from the saw mill where they had worked for many years and expected more to come. When the sawmills closed in 1978, those who could afford to leave Myrtle Creek packed up their belongings or sold off what they could, to find work in another location, generally in another state.  Circumstances changed whatever dreams they may have had  (Heilman, 2014 p 78).  Very few people (if any) choose to be poor.

            A rich person may donate $1,000 to a local charity and  use it as a tax write off.  For him to write a check for that amount is no big deal.  For him, it may be just chump change.  Another man may spend only $7.00 on a swimsuit so that his daughter may have a birthday gift to unwrap (Reality, 2017) and though the amount of  $7.00 seems so much smaller than $1,000, the poor man is giving everything while the rich man gives something that he may consider small. 

            If we treat one another with respect, regardless of our position, we create better human beings.  Humans should be made to feel humane and not a statistic.  Respect may be the first step taken towards stamping out the poverty.

            The pictures were not a part of my assignment, but are there for the affect of the post.       On Monday I start to more classes.  Management: Entrepreneurship and Math.   

Nice to know you Value my Opinion

          Eight months after I started this blog, I created this post. Roland actually works for an online school and had taken advantage of furthering his education at a deal.  He would spend HOURS on the computer - and that was BEFORE he started working at home.  That was a LOT of time.

          Sometimes he would be frustrated - perhaps for different reasons than I had imagined.  I like having someone hold my hand and walk me through a task - rather than just hand me the instructions. And don't explain things to me on a college level.  I want you to dummy it down like I'm five (I would have gone for a higher number, but Jenna seems to absorb things better than I and has always learned things at an earlier age than I)

          Some people have asked why I have gone into accounting as I really don't have a love for it.  Because it's something that I need to know just so that I may balance my own finances - not that all my classes could  applied on a personal level.  Take this last class for example (it's official last day is tomorrow - but I have  officially finished this course as of yesterday.  I have absolutely hated this class the most - though I wasn't overly fond of the one before it.

         I had briefly mentioned in this post the requirements - though I didn't go into detail.  A student has the opportunity of signing in each day to do a daily checkpoint.  The requirement is to do just three or four checkpoints a week.  There is no penalty for incorrect answers, however a correct answer accounts for additional points toward the final grade.

          For at least three weeks (occasionally all four) the student is given a topic to discuss with the class.  We are required to research and reference the topic and it has to be in APA form.  It seems to me that most instructors are a lot more concerned with the APA style than with the content itself.  That seems pretty lame to me.

          Research can actually suck up a lot of time.  The instructor wants your opinion, but you also have to back your opinion up with reference.  Yada-yada-yada . . . . blah, blah, blah . . .

          In addition to the student's initial post, we also have to comment on two other posts from either our classmates or the instructor.  We're supposed to create an actual discussion among ourselves.  Our initial post (thus far) has to be at least 150 words PLUS references.  Our response to our classmates had to be at least 50. 

          All of my female instructors have responded to each student.  I have had two male instructors that have created posts but have not responded.  I actually enjoy the interaction with my instructors.  I like the personal comments that each has left with each individual student.

          In addition to the daily checkpoints and discussions are the assignments and assessments - which actually work out differently for each specific class.  Sometimes the assignment and assessment end up being similar, but for me personally, the assignment has usually been a word document or PowerPoint or excel and most of my assessments have been quizzes.  I like working excel as I don't have to use the APA style or count my words.  Poor Roland has had some assignments that have been bears.  4,000 plus words.  That's his own fault for selecting "business" as his major.  Did I mention that I really really don't care for business and that Roland and I are opposite in our way of thinking.

          Often, if there is a concept that I don't understand (which lately, have been many) I will send the text over to Roland and ask him to explain it to me in the same way he would explain to Thomas - who is in my primary class.  That seems to help me to understand it.  But it still doesn't make the topic any better enough to love it.  

          A lecture is given sometime before midnight Wednesday (that is when the initial discussion post is due) The lecture includes introductions (at least some of them have) reviews (all except for the last two from the same instructor) expectations for the discussion, what to expect on the assessment and how to do the assignment.

          I had a few instructors who would spend so much time on the review that they hadn't allowed for much time for the current week. I couldn't understand why all the rehashing - until I experienced my first rough spot with the course material, and then I finally understood.

          There have been some assessments I've taken that I have really not done well with - but thanks to those daily check points, I was able to remain on top.  So the school does give the student several opportunities in which to pass the course.  All of the exams are open book.

          On the forth week, before a student can enter the portal, he or she MUST fill out a survey in order to proceed.  This is to rate the course and instructor on a scale from one to 10.  Strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree. 

Until the last two courses, I had never gone below a six.  But I must say that  I found both course and instructor very had to follow, and so my ratings overall were not the best.

Overall, I am satisfied with this course.    No.  No, I am not.  I think I gave it a 2.

Course media (PowerPoint, videos, websites, resources) are engaging and useful.  I think my last two courses were the first that did not offer videos.  That's how I learn.  And PowerPoint's?  Come on, man!  The school gave us definite restrictions on the correct way to do a power point, but do not follow  their own guidelines.  The power points are BORING!  I gave both classes a 1.

The work required for the course is reasonable.   I don't know.  I guess it was.  That is if you actually understood it.       4

Course objectives are clearly stated.  Clear as WV water    6

Course content covers all course objectives.   Possibly.  Perhaps I could better answer if I could understand the language.      5

Overall, I am satisfied with my instructor for this course.  It's not his fault he doesn't resonate with me.  No one instructor is going to be liked by every student  4 - do you have any idea how hard that was for me to give someone a 4?

The instructor is knowledgeable about the course subject.  He sounds as though he is.  Maybe?  8  
       

The instructor motivates me to excel in this course.     uh?  no, not really  3 - I don't think it was his method of teaching so much as my lack of response.

I would like to take another course taught by this instructor.   NO!  No, please.  PLEASE, Please . . . no.  I'd prefer somebody who can communicate with me.  No.   1  A fat lot of good that did!  I wasn't even done with 213 when I got assigned 214 by the SAME instructor.  Are you insane????

The instructor is organized and prepared.     I think so.  I gave him a 9, possibly a 10

Instructor teaches concepts in a way that is easy to understand.   No.   I recently had told my instructor that I feel like Tom Hank's character, Josh, in "Big" when he is at a conference meeting with the board.  As John Heard's character, Paul, is trying to explain a new toy item, Josh continues raising his hand saying, "I don't get it."    I have also compared him to the adult you hear in the peanut cartoons "Wha - wha - wha- wha"  No.  Again it might not be his delivery method but maybe just the material itself (though his delivery annoyed me for the most part - except when there weren't any students present for his live lecture)

instructor holds my interest   I may have given him a 2

the instructor connects the course material to my future career.                     uh? I'm not doing anything with stocks and bonds.  That's for sure!

      I have managed to turn in my assignments and assessments by Thursday for the most part.  I think I turned only three in on a Friday for ALL of the classes that I took - until these last two.  I didn't actually get in last week's assignment until Monday of this week - so of course I was docked points for tardiness.  But it looks like I might still be able to retain my average thanks to the daily checkpoints and extra fifteen for Career Integration which is another rating for class and instructor.  Three questions. Answers have to be at least 50 words long.  I think my shortest was 63.

      I would love to take another class from my QuickBooks instructor that I had last mod.  I wonder if he teaches the more complicated accounting classes.

     My next class (I will only have one again) is economics.  I hope I will like and understand it and the instructor better than my last two classes. I don't believe I would be taking these classes at all if we still lived in Utah. Only 138 and a half more credits to go.