Saratoga News Students clamor for classes they can attend from home By Michelle Alaimo Some West Valley College students are foregoing the traditional college class for one of convenience--distance learning. With distance learning classes, students never leave home and simply turn on the television or computer to complete their coursework. Not only can students take courses such as United States history from the convenience of their home, first time students can also fill out a required application on-line and receive confirmation messages via email. While the college does offer courses covering virtually every degree area, David Fishbaugh, dean of learning resources, said the school is at least one course away from students earning a two-year degree entirely from distance learning courses. The one area in which the college lacks a course is its cultural diversity requirement. Fishbaugh said he is unsure when a distance learning course will be developed for it. Even though demand for online and telecourses continues to rise, he said the idea is nothing new. WVC first started offering distance learning courses nearly eight years ago, mainly through telecourses. Once the Internet took off and online courses became in demand, the college started developing them. West Valley now offers six online courses but hopes to soon expand to 10, Fishbaugh said. He added that the courses aren't only convenient for students, they're also interesting for instructors to teach. However, he said, some instructors have found the online classes to be more work because of a high volume of emails from students. "It's almost like an instructor having individual tutorials with all the students in their classes," Fishbaugh said. As time goes by, he said West Valley will need to devise a way for instructors to make the courses more manageable and efficient for themselves. The college offers support to teachers in developing and maintaining their class websites. Although the process is still in its early stages, West Valley officials said the demand for online courses is high, and many of the classes are filling up quickly. And while many students take advantage of the online and telecourses, others are using a variety of timesaving methods offered by the college. More than 700 first-time students have taken advantage of a new online application process, according to Gladys DeLuca, dean of instructional computer technologies. "It saves them time and us time," she said. Then the students are free to register for classes either by phone or by using the world-wide web. Students can also go online to check their grades, change their address and obtain copies of their schedules. WVC's website can be viewed at www.westvalley.edu/wvc. [ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Saratoga News, February 10, 1999. ©1999 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.