Principles of Business Management (BUS 1101) at UoPeople

Principles of  Business Management (BUS 1101) was the first business course I took at the UoPeople. It was also the first time I took two classes together in a term at this school. I would say it was an extremely relaxed course, and I was lucky to have a very competent instructor who understood unfair peer assessment to the core. In fact, the instructor was a thorough gentleman. He was one of the most well-mannered professors I’ve come across at UoPeople so far. He was active in Discussion Forums, posted weekly updates, motivated students, and was a great grader too. Often times, when other students marked me unfairly, he was quick to change the grade and replied to all my emails. I would say professors like him are truly an asset to the schools they teach at.

The class was also small, with only 16-18 students. I prefer smaller online classes to the bigger ones as that way, the instructors get to give more time to students. The students were also primarily working professionals from various parts of the world, so it was a pleasant experience reading about companies, business practices, and infrastructure in their countries.

As for the course itself, you get a textbook assigned to you from which you read a chapter or two each week. Sometimes you also have to read some articles in addition to the weekly chapters. After you’re done with reading assignments, you mostly have to come up with examples from your professional work life about a company you’ve worked at or followed for the Discussion Posts. For the Written Assignments and Learning Journals, you mostly have to analyze business companies, write about case studies you read, or use business tools, methods, and strategies to talk about various concepts of business, like goals, mission statements, vision, objectives, workplace demographics, managers, leaders organizational structures and so on. I felt this course required a great deal of critical thinking each week. You’ve to think an example to relate to the topic, do a case study, or write a well-articulated paper or an essay.

As for the quizzes, they came from the book. If you do your readings and make excellent revisable notes, then you’ll do really well on them. I’ve talked to several people about making notes on Facebook, and it turns out not many do it. For me, making notes is the key, whether I’m studying a course or going out shopping. I don’t know about others, but without notes, I would consider myself aimless. Your notes for this course should include key definitions, acronyms, terms, and concepts. One great thing about the book was, it highlighted all the essential terms, giving you an idea of what is important for the quizzes and exam. Here is a sample of my notes:

The Final Exam was also similar to the Quizzes, though there was no repetition. If I recall correctly, there were 40-45 multiple choice questions with 1:30hrs given to complete the exam. It’s not humanly possible to read all the material during the exam week, so it’s very vital that you make revisable good notes each week.

It was during this class the signs of COVID-19 started showing up in the US and globally in early 2020. My instructor was quick to calm the nerves of students and motivated them. Looking back in 2022, it was such a grim time for everyone worldwide. Thankfully, the vaccines have helped us mitigate the virus. Overall, it's a quality course, and you learn about plenty of business terms, how organizations work, business hierarchy, real case studies of top companies in the world, and so on. A capable and understanding instructor can also help you do well on the course. I ended up getting an A in the end, and I couldn't be happier with my progress, knowing the hard work I put into the class.