Saturday, June 12, 2010

Online classes clicking with students

Online classes clicking with students

Online classes clicking with students

Posted: 12 Jun 2010 08:03 PM PDT

More and more, college classes are moving outside the brick and mortar building and toward a virtual offering. Western Nebraska Community College officials say students and teachers are embracing online courses for their offerings.

Garry Alkire, dean of student services, estimates 65 percent of students enrolled in summer classes are taking courses online.

"That was not the case five years ago," he said.

As degree options increase, college officials said online courses are increasing in popularity. It's a trend seen not only on the national level but locally as well.

Students seeking degrees in business administration, management information systems, accounting and business technology courses can fully complete a degree online, Marsha Blackburn, division chair of office/business and information technologies, said.

The college also has online offerings that allow students seeking to transfer business courses or two-year job readiness programs for those wanting to enter directly into the workforce.

Information technology is one area that WNCC has been moving forward in, bringing nearly all of its 11 courses into online offerings, including nationally-recognized programs like Microsoft training. WNCC has been offering health information management systems courses online for about four years now. General education courses are also offered online through the college. Tutoring is  available online for students as well.

The programs are driven not only by the desires, but also the needs of students, Blackburn said.

"We had a lot of working people who were taking classes at night or over their lunch hours," she said. "Through online courses, we are able to give them another option so that they can still take courses in person or online."

Sometimes, students find day-to-day life getting in the way of taking traditional courses. They need to get into the work force and are unable to attend classes because they have moved to another community or time commitments. Online courses allow more flexibility.

With WNCC having three campuses within western Nebraska, online courses also help increase offerings to students so that they do not have to be "site bound," Terry Gaalwsyk, vice-president of educational services said,

"If a student is able to take classes from another location, it opens up more options for them," he said. "Accessibility is key, especially in western Nebraska."

Flexibility is another key in online programs, Blackburn said. In most instances, students can attend classes at the originating site, which may be preferable to students who need to be in a classroom in front of a teacher. Teachers will record the session, which online students can view in real time or log onto a computer at another time to view the course. Recorded sessions can also offer a benefit for students throughout the semester, as they can go back and review material in a class if they were struggling or before a test.

Surprisingly, students taking online courses aren't non-traditional students, but younger students, Alkire said. The biggest majority of students taking online courses are those seeking to transfer to other programs or already in the workforce. Blackburn said students who do not live within western Nebraska also make up a contingency of the school's online students because of affordability.

Alkire stressed that a focus of the online programs is to offer students a dynamic classroom experience.

"Students deserve the classroom experience," he said, explaining that pre-recorded classes aren't recycled as they are erased at the end of each semester. Each semester, classes are begun and the instructor works with the students in that class.

Online coursework can take some more commitment on behalf of the students, officials acknowledged.

"The student has a learning responsibility," Alkire said. "It is college."

Online courses can also mean more work on behalf of the instructors. All proposed courses are approved and must follow a set of standards set by the college. Blackburn said training is offered to teachers. Often times, she said, teachers have participated in online courses themselves.

"With that personal experience, they have an understanding of what works and what doesn't," she said. "We try to gear the class as close as possible to a face-to-face course."

Students can also register for classes online. The college's website is available via www.wncc.net.

 


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