Online summer school courses offered at ULV

by Anna Roy
Editorial Director

Besides traditional courses, the Distance Learning Center is offering a variety of online courses for summer school.

"Some of the classes do close very quickly," said Alene Harrison, registrar for the DLC, located in Upland.

For this reason, students interested are encouraged to visit the DLC's website at www.ulv.edu/dlc/dlc.html where the courses being offered are listed.

"We do not have the capability at this point to actually register online," Harrison said.

Instead, students can print out registration forms from the web site and send them to the DLC via fax, mail or by delivering them in person, which Harrison recommends if it is toward the end of registration, which began on May 1 and ends May 29. The summer term itself lasts from June 10 to Aug. 18.

"Just a handful of classes are being offered right now," said Director of Academic Advising, Eric Bishop.

Some classes being offered are Biology 101, History of Latin America, Values and Critical Thinking (Core 300), The Sustainable Planet (Core 340) and English 110, 111 and 312. Many public administration and management courses are also being offered.

Generally, CAPA students do not take summer school classes because they are not allotted financial aid. Rather, online education is particularly helpful to students who attend ULV off campus sites, which are located throughout California, Harrison said.

"I think it's an excellent opportunity, especially if they aren't able to be on campus," Harrison said.

Besides being able to access courses from home, "If they have a laptop, they can access it from anywhere," she added.

Harrison also mentioned many students who take these courses live in areas where they do not have access to junior colleges, in cities like Porterville.

By taking online classes, Harrison said, students can still attain their general education requirements.

"It gives students flexibility in their daily schedule, but it takes a disciplined students to take them," Bishop said. "Not only discipline but self-motivation because the teacher is not there every day to remind them."

The online method is not appropriate for all types of classes, Bishop said, as many courses are based on lectures.

"This doesn't mean that it can't be done," Bishop said. Though, he stressed the importance of keeping a high quality of education with courses.

The Distance Learning website says, "Textbooks, term papers, library research class discussions, examinations, presentations, and other components of traditional courses are part of ULV online courses, but the classroom is created by the Internet and the worldwide resources are at the students' fingertips."

Online courses have the same prerequisites as regular courses, in addition to covering the same material and fulfilling the same requirements.

The entire on line program is still in its developmental stages, as there is still limited selection of courses availabe.

Different departments on campus are currently evaluating their own development of online classes.

Students interested in online courses should contact Harrison at (909) 985-0944 and in addition, students should contact their advisors to make sure the course is in accordance with their degree requirements.