Lecture or classroom based courses are the traditional form of college course. In this type of course, the instructor and the students meet at regularly scheduled times in one of the college's classrooms to cover the course material, assign student activities and address any difficulties that students may be having with the course material. Lecture classes offer the convenience of face to face contact with the instructor, a regular schedule, and a familiar learning environment.
Technology Enriched Courses will be taught as a lecture class with an additional technology component. (Currently, the Hawkes Learning System is being used www.hawkeslearning.com) Note that these are not online courses.
How many times have you been working on math homework on your own and thought, "I understood the problems in class, but now I'm just confused!" Often times, only a small hint is needed to avoid countless hours of frustration.
Conversely, how many times have you work on problems at home and thought you understood only to later find out you didn't when you took the test. Doing homework problems wrong only reinforces bad habits...habits that take even longer to unlearn.
The addition of the software gives students access to several features that increase the ability to learn the required skills while lessening the frustration of not being able to receive immediate help.
Online courses are college courses taught online via the World Wide Web and its related technologies. Online courses are fully equivalent to lecture courses in quality and typically feature a curriculum similar to their lecture based counterparts. Students earn the same college credit in an online course as they do in a lecture course. The typical online course is built around a course website, which will contain the course syllabus, class assignments, student activities, and other necessary information. E-mail and discussion forums are the primary tools used for communication between the instructor and students. This combination of course website, supporting materials, and discussion tools form a virtual classroom in which the students and instructor interact. Most online courses do not require the student to visit the campus and may be completed completely online, but a few do have proctored exams, so checking the course info sheets before signing up is always a wise precaution. One of the biggest advantages that online courses offer is flexibility of daily schedule. The student can schedule their class work at the time of day most useful to them, rather than having to appear in a classroom for one or more fixed periods each week.
One point of special note to students is that online courses are not typically self paced! Just as with their classroom based
counterparts, most online courses have regularly scheduled assignments that must be completed by the deadlines laid out within the course. An online course offers more flexibility of schedule than lecture based courses, but the student will still be expected to complete work by a series of deadlines throughout the semester. To illustrate this concept, consider the following example. In a traditional lecture course, the student might be expected to show up on a particular Tuesday afternoon from 4:00pm to 6:00pm in order to take an exam. The student must appear at this exact time to take the exam and receive credit for it.
In an online course however, the student will typically have an exam deadline to meet, but may work on that exam during whatever time is most convenient to them prior to the exam's deadline. Most online courses use a varient of this system. Throughout the semester, students will typically have assignments that must be completed by a listed set of deadlines, but when the students work on the assignments prior to those deadlines is up to them.
Check out our Distance Learning Tips for further information on both online and hybrid courses.
A hybrid course offers many of the conveniences of an online course while also allowing for the oppertunity to meet face to face with an instructor. In a hybrid course much of the work is done via the internet, just as in an online course, but there will also be scheduled face to face meeting times with the instructor throughout the course. Meeting with the instructor is often voleuntary, but some instructors may also require mandatory onsite meetings for midterm or final examinations. In general, a hybrid requires less student presence onsite than a lecture course, but there will still be some on campus events that the student must attend. Hybrid courses are ideal for students who want to complete much of the course work by themselves, but still occasionally want to meet face to face with an instructor to discuss problem areas or ask questions. Hybrid courses can also be a good option for those who are not able to schedule the time for a lecture course, but aren't yet ready to tackle the fully online options either.
Check out our Distance Learning Tips for further information on both online and hybrid courses.
A new entrant into the college lineup, Self-Paced courses provide the flexibility of starting a class at anytime and still completing the class by the semester's end. These courses are Internet based courses, but also have instructors available to meet with students at specified times throughout the semester. If you are considering taking an
Self-Paced course, please make sure to read the Guidlines for
Self-Paced Math Classes before registering. You will need a copy of Adobe's free Acrobat Reader program (avialable from the adobe website at www.adobe.com to view the PDF. Contact the math department for more information about open entry courses.
Note to students receiving financial aid. Students taking
Self-Paced classes and also parcipitating in the financial aid program should take special care before accepting a Z or I grade for an
Self-Paced course. The CCA Financial Aid office does not consider a Z or I grade to be satisfactory academic progress. Please read our Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy or contact CCA's Financial Aid office for more information.