The minimum bar is too low.
> Personally, some of the courses I'm taking now are just as hard as those I took during undergrad at a brick-and-mortar university.
I can't argue with your lived experience. But I can tell you, as someone that teaches such courses, the ones offered by WGU are woefully inadequate. The material they cover, the depth in which they do it, the rigor of the problem sets and exams, are all wildly out of tune with what is offered in any CS department that I have ever seen.
> This comment comes off really strongly to me in the direction of gatekeeping.
I don't care about gatekeeping. If WGU wants to offer a CS degree, that's great. Let's get everyone involved. But! Then they should offer a CS degree with the same level of rigor that is expected of any other student in any other CS department.
It is very disingenuous of them to say they provide CS degrees, but then target the courses to such a low level.
> Perhaps I wouldn't feel such a strong need to get the degree, if it wasn't a prerequisite to even higher education!
Except that a WGU degree will not open the doors to even higher education. I cannot imagine a single CS department admitting a PhD student based on their credentials from WGU. The effort required to convince someone that you know what you're doing, is so huge compared to getting the WGU degree, I don't think it contributes much.
Just look at this reddit post from students taking this class and you'll learn everything you need to know https://www.reddit.com/r/WGU_CompSci/comments/maty9w/c950_da...
They are talking about learning about hashmaps (how, at this point in their education???) and it looks like the class can be completed by doing a single project. So yes, this is very unimpressive.
Example DS&A course at Utah: https://www.cs.utah.edu/~miriah/teaching/cs2420/ Following Algorithms course: http://theory.cs.utah.edu/fall18/algorithms/
More than half the classes in the CS BS degree at WGU look like filler too: https://www.wgu.edu/content/dam/wgu-65-assets/western-govern...
3/4 years of a B.S. at a large research university, with 1 or 2 grad courses thrown in.
> DS&A classes..at WGU look completely watered down from what is taught in a single semester at the nearby university of Utah.
I agree with that. They do look watered down.
> They are talking about learning about hashmaps (how, at this point in their education???)
I checked the link and don't see what you are describing. One comment is talking about how to use a hashmap. But, I wouldn't be suprised if they didn't know what a hashmap was at all, since I've encountered that in undergrad at brick-and-mortar too.
> More than half the classes in the CS BS degree at WGU look like filler too
That's exactly how I feel about most gen-eds at a brick-and-mortar :)
But, I am actually learning things from these filler courses that were never taught at my university, nor taught at the workplace, which honestly did surprise me in a good way.
This comment comes off really strongly to me in the direction of gatekeeping.
> These would not be acceptable in any CS department that I know.
Personally, some of the courses I'm taking now are just as hard as those I took during undergrad at a brick-and-mortar university.
I would say that the promised scope & depth of my undergrad courses at my brick-and-mortar university was greater, with interactive lessons, feedback, etc.
On the other hand, to learn that breadth of material takes two interested parties. Often I had professors who wanted to research, not teach. Sometimes the course was taught entirely by TAs after hours. Usually the pace was so fast that I never had time to learn one thing before we moved on to the next.
There were students who did the bare minimum, while others went beyond. That piece of paper symbolizing their "CS education" means much more to some than others.
> You did not get a CS education.
Hard to argue since you haven't defined "CS education", but I'll read it as "..the CS education that my university provides."
I believe it, and acknowledge that not all CS educations are equal.
> There are bootcamps that are much higher quality than this.
I think the goals are different. WGU allows me to study at a slow pace, go as deep or as shallow as I please (while passing a minimum bar) and will grant me a B.S. at the end of it. I already have a job; what I'm missing is the degree.
Perhaps I wouldn't feel such a strong need to get the degree, if it wasn't a prerequisite to even higher education!