Overall my experience with WGU has been comparable...

Overall my experience with WGU has been comparable to other online programs with the exception of their proctoring process. When testing you have to have a proctored exam in certain courses (someone monitoring you visually through video with audio, who are NOT educational professionals like your professor or anyone within the school itself) and the proctoring entities, the 3rd party agencies that WGU contracts, have ruined the education process at this school. They are nit picky, argumentative, rude, and make the testing process frustrating, stressful, and leave students questioning if WGU is hindering the education process by using testing policies and contractors that create uneccessary hurdles for students. When I voiced my concerns and complaints to the assessment department, the WGU employee cited "it's policy in the student handbook" in which I would argue that the policies need to be adjusted to adapt to student needs and keep WGU competitive with other educational entities. I have outlined below my personal frustrations with the proctoring process and these have been building throughout my MBA program. I am 1 term from graduation and seriously debating on transferring to a university that is more capable of supporting student success.

(My specific issues are; 1- The proctor after a 360 degree view of my living room demanded I do the load of laundry on my coffee table before testing. This in my opinion is an inappropriate request and does not hinder my ability to test as my desk area was away from the cursid load of laundry. 2- Your proctor will not allow you to read questions, quietly or loudly for that matter, to yourself when testing, EVEN THOUGH you are required to test in an environment where you are the only person in that environment.Thus eliminating your ability to read the question to someone else or cause a distraction to other students. With the video and audio monitoring the proctor can also assure you are not reading the question to a device that would respond, therefore I do not see an issue with a student reading a question to themselves. 3- You are not allowed to wear headphones plugged into your testing computer to hear the proctor as they speak, EVEN THOUGH they have FULL access to your computer and can verify that the audio jack is being used on that device and solely for the purpose of focusing on your test. No other applications are allowed to be open and they verify that there are none through task manager inspection on your computer. 4-You are not allowed to use BLANK piece paper for calculations on math tests, you have to use a white dry erase board or nothing. EVEN THOUGH the white dry erase board and blank white piece of paper are equivalent in their purpose during the testing process. Heck might as well laminate your piece of paper prior to testing and call it a white board. The proctor monitors your desk area the entire time through video and audio monitoring, so if there was an integrity issue it would appear the same on either the paper or dry erase board. 5- Be prepared for the proctor to interrupt you repetitively during your test, distracting you and causing even more frustration. And those interuptions will be of minimal importance like them requesting that the wireless mouse you are using be visible 100% of the time to them because apparently they can not put 2 and 2 together that you are using the same mouse to test with throughout the test that you started with, EVEN THOUGH they have full access to your computer and can verify that the mouse is not connected to any other device. 6- The proctors have very heavy accents that make them hard to understand and require you to ask them to repeat what they are trying to communicate. 7- Proctoring (at least in my courses) is limited to 1am-1pm, making it difficult to schedule testing if you have other obligations. WGU's selling point is you can work your education around your life, but this is not true, you have to fit proctoring around their schedule. Seems like false advertising or a bait and switch situation to me.)