[Adobe Acrobat required]
Wm. S. Hart Union High School District What's Good &
School Board Roundup
College of the Canyons
Breaking News Bottom Line
Newhall School District NSD Today
Santa Clarita Valley Senior Center
The Mighty Oak
Samuel Dixon Family Health Centers Inc. Health Matters
Santa Clarita Valley
Historical Society
Heritage Junction Dispatch
Organization: College of the Canyons
Date: July 16, 2008
New COC Program Lets Students "GO!" For It
SANTA CLARITA — College of the Canyons is set to unveil a new series of 5-week, online classes this fall that will allow students to earn college units at an accelerated rate. The program will help to meet the needs of community members who prefer learning in a more compressed manner than the traditional 16-week college format.
Classes will be offered in back-to-back, 5-week windows in which students can accomplish their goals in shorter, more intensive classes. This allows them to move on to the next level faster. In addition, students will have the flexibility to start a class at the beginning of any 5-week window throughout the year.
"With the downturn in the economy, a generally faster pace of life for everyone, fuel prices at all-time highs and a new generation of students who prefer to learn at their convenience," observed Diane Fiero, Vice President for the college and responsible for the program's implementation, "we think this program, which allows students to take classes online in the comfort of their own homes or wherever they have access to a computer, will be extremely popular."
Administrators are excited about the potential of the program, called the "GO! Program," playing an important role in making college classes accessible to a number of community members, who for a variety of reasons, are not able to enroll in the college's traditional, 16-week-long classes.
"The basic premise of the 'GO' program," said Fiero, "is to make it easier for students to 'get in,' 'get out,' and 'get going' with their lives."
Classes being made available in this accelerated format will include a host of general education classes such as Art, Anthropology, English, History, Political Science, Psychology, and many more.
Research has shown that many students prefer the short-term class options since they generally provide more schedule flexibility for students and provide alternatives to courses that are traditionally based on the standard academic calendar. Since many courses are offered every five weeks, students have additional opportunities to pick up classes they might have missed at an earlier time and, with classes being repeated every two to three sessions, students will have to wait only weeks, not months, to try the course again if something prevents them from completing a class.
The college will be looking closely at the results of this fall's program rollout and determining what changes need to be made based on those observations.
"We think this format will be attractive to both students currently enrolled at the college as well as those who haven't taken college classes before," said Fiero, "and at $20 per unit, students should know that they are receiving an outstanding value. We are constantly looking at what barriers people need to overcome in order to enroll and be successful in college," stressed Fiero, "and we firmly believe this program will remove a significant barrier for many potential students."
For more information about the GO program and to enroll, go to the college's Website at: www.canyons.edu or call the college at: 661-259-&800.
