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Distance Education refers to learning that takes place outside the traditional classroom setting. Surry Community College offers various types of Distance Education courses:
An Internet course is accessed via the Internet from home, office, or campus. The courses include instructor notes, textbooks, hotlinks, remote access to student services as well as the Learning Resource Center. Surry Community College will provide a free web based email account for communication with your Instructor.
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Hybrid courses combine ftraditional classroom instruction with the interactivity of an Internet course. Like Internet courses Hybrid courses are accessed via the Internet from home, office, or campus. The courses include face-to-face instruction, course websites, textbooks, hotlinks, online and in-class discussions, collaboration and problem-solving. Surry Community College will provide a free web based email account for communication with your Instructor.
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This is an int eractive video conferencing course which enables students to come together from multiple locations with instructors for face-to-face instruction, discussion, collaboration, and problem-solving. The video-conferencing classroom at SCC and the Yadkin Center are equipped with two-way audio and video equipment that permit all students to participate fully in the class, regardless of location. All necessary technologies are available in the classroom.
The purpose of the Distance Education program at Surry Community College is to support the college’s mission to provide high quality, reasonably priced educational and job training programs which meet the needs of the adults in its service area. Several options are now available for students to obtain degrees completely online. Currently our online degree programs include an Associate in Arts, Information Systems hybrid degree, Business Administration, Early Childhood and Viticulture.
Distance education opportunities provide a means for students to enroll in credit classes that do not require traditional classroom attendance. The Distance Education program shares the same goals, objectives, skills and competencies as all educational opportunities at SCC. Students are offered full service access to learning resources, program advisement and financial aid information. At SCC, these opportunities include telecourses, hybrid courses, teleweb courses, Internet courses, and North Carolina Information Highway (NCIH) courses. ----------
Through the Internet, distance education courses provide access to thousands of information sources around the world, including libraries and news media. These sources can be accessed from any computer anywhere in the world that is connected to the Internet. Students are also not restricted to a particular time of day to seek information from classmates and teacher.
Each SCC Distance Education course is offered in the Blackboard learning platform. Blackboard places students in an Internet classroom that enables them to communicate with their instructor and classmates via their computer. Instead of sitting in a traditional bricks and mortar classroom at 10 a.m. to 10:50 a.m. each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, students can participate in their Internet classroom from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. on Tuesday if they choose. Students enrolled in CIS 110, Introduction to Computers, for example, will participate in several hours of discussions about computer concepts they have seen, just as they would in a traditional on-campus class. The difference is that instead of discussing the same computer concept at 10 a.m., some students will post their comments to an online discussion group at 10 a.m. Monday, but others will respond at 3 a.m. Tuesday. By the end of the week, however, all students will have participated in the discussion group.
Is distance education for me?
Distance education classes are designed for students whose work and family schedule prevents them from being able to take a class every week at a specific scheduled time. If you are serious about your education and wish the flexibility of being able to take a college course any time day or night, then you should consider a distance education course at Surry Community College. You should be familiar with using a personal computer for word processing and connecting to the Internet. If you do not own or have access to a personal computer, Surry Community College also provides computers on campus. Distance education courses assume that you are eager to learn and can motivate yourself to complete the course within the semester. Here are some additional benefits of distance education courses, for faculty and students:
- Online students gain experience and skills that will make them marketable in the 21st century.
- Online learning is active. Students analyze and evaluate independently while reading, writing, and discussing heavily. Because of this, many students find online learning more fun than classroom-based courses.
- Online learning is flexible. Based on their preferences and needs, instructors and students can work on a course at 2 p.m. or 2 a.m., at home or at school.
- More students participate online because they are less self-conscious and less subject to the time pressure that can inhibit classroom discussions. Instructors, in turn, get enhanced one-on-one contact with students.
- Through the Internet the whole world becomes the classroom.
What do I need to succeed in a distance education course?
Each SCC Distance Education course provides you with dozens of resources to help you succeed, including connections to discussion groups, libraries, writing guides, and a student manual for using all of the courses resources. To succeed in a distance education course, you also need the following equipment and skills:
- Internet Access: You must either own or have frequent access to a computer connected to the Internet. You should have access to this computer each week for online discussion groups, for doing online research, for sending and responding to email messages, and for writing papers and submitting them via the Internet. You will, of course, need to spend more time than this reading textbook assignments, viewing videotapes (if required), and participating in other types of learning experiences. If you connect to the Internet with a modem, 56K is the minimum modem connection.
- Computer Knowledge: You must also know how to use your computer to save files, access those files on your computer, copy files, use word processing, cut and paste text, copy text, and send and receive email. Microsoft Word XP or newer version is the program your instructor will be using in your course.
- Email: You are required to use the free web-based email account that SCC provides students. In addition, you can send messages to your instructor and classmates in an SCC Distance Education course.
- Up-to-date Browser You also must use Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher. Download the latest version. -----
- Videotape and CD: You may need to have access to a videotape player and a CD-ROM drive since some SCC Distance Education courses use videotapes and materials on CD-ROM. Some of these you will purchase from the SCC Bookstore. Other videotapes or CDs may be available through Learning Resource Center on the SCC campus or rental. ------- Thus you also must have access to a videotape player at your home, or you can view videotapes in the Learning Resource Center.
- Writing Skills: Aside from the technical requirements, you must be able to read and write effectively. Using the Internet is a point and click experience, but the Internet and Internet courses are reading intensive experiences. You must also be a self-motivated person who can maintain a schedule. SCC Distance Education courses are not correspondence courses that you will complete in the far-distant future completely at your leisure. SCC Distance Education requires weekly activities just as in any course, although you can complete these activities any hour of the day or night during that weekly period.
- Self-Evaluation: Take the
Distance Learning Pre-test to determine if you are ready to take a distance education course at Surry Community College. Listed below are other questions you may have about Distance Education courses.
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