How does studying at Western Governors University work in real life?

Factual Questions
1

So I was researching Western Governors University and even spoke with an admissions representative, and it seems that I am being led to believe that:

  1. WGU “classes” are of indeterminate length and are “passed” simply by the student requesting to take the applicable evaluations and achieving a Pass (you either pass or fail, there is no distinction between an ‘A’ and a ‘B’, etc.), and they may choose to take these evaluations at anytime they want. For example, an evaluation might say, “The student shall write a satisfactory essay on dynamic nematodes and their place in modern society. The base criteria for a satisfactory essay are defined in Policy 44.2a and, in addition, this essay must include at least 5 non-Internet sources” and another might be, “The student shall obtain at least a 70% score on the multiple-choice Comprehensive Underwater Basket Weaving Theory Examination”. When the student feels that their essay is ready, they may turn it in. There is no specific “due date” for the essay or final exam date.

  2. There is no cumulative GPA. If you “fail” an evaluation (e.g. the essay in #1 was deemed unacceptable because it was not long enough, didn’t cover the correct topics, used poor grammar, had faulty logic, didn’t use refereed sources, was just an incoherent rant about space aliens controlling local politicians, etc.), you can take it again later and the only penalty is it took you longer to achieve the goal, maybe meaning that you lost an evening that you could have been at the pool or the bar with friends or something. Analogously, if you overestimate your abilities and ask to take the Comprehensive Underwater Basket Weaving Theory Examination before you actually master the material and score a 63% (the passing threshold was 70%), you don’t “fail” Underwater Basket Weaving 230 and have to take it again next semester from the beginning, you just wasted three hours taking the test, better luck next week.

  3. The criteria for remaining in good status is that one passes a certain number of evaluations or grouping of evaluations per semester. You get as many “tries” to pass as you want, but if you don’t get at least X passes per semester you can be academically disciplined, possibly up to expulsion/“flunking out”.

Is this fundamentally correct? Has anyone studied there? Is it significantly nontraditional in practice, or does everything end up mapping to a semblance of a brick-and-mortar school due to practicalities?