Courses in College

Community college campuses have historically had a reputation for having many older students who have returned to college after raising a family, serving in the military, or working for many years. While the average age of a community college student is still 29, there are many younger faces beginning to walk the halls of community colleges. In fact, from 2002 to 2011, the number of high school students enrolled in college courses increased by 67 percent, to 1.3 million students.

High School Partnerships Fuel Enrollment

This shift towards a younger student population is largely the result of partnerships with local high schools. Kids as young as 13 and 14 years of age are enrolling in college courses and earning what’s known as dual credit – courses that count toward both high school and college graduation requirements. General education courses such as English, maths, and science are far and away the most popular courses taken by high school-aged students. But others take advantage of non-core course offerings such as humanities, fine arts, and physical education, as well. The result is that students are graduating with an associate’s degree before they even graduate from high school.

Baltimore County’s Diploma to Degree Program

This video explains the pros and cons of earning college credits in high school.

In Baltimore County, Maryland, students who demonstrate exceptional academic skills can enroll in the Diploma

Massive Open Online Courses, dubbed MOOCs by most educators, have become the buzzword for higher education. Providing free, online education on a global, rather than a campus, level has serious implications for the world of higher education overall. Despite the obvious benefits of MOOCs (free, readily available, etc.), many educators are skeptical of their actual value in the real college experience. How exactly did MOOCs make it on the scene and what does their future hold? The answers may depend on who you ask.

Anatomy of a MOOC

According to the Washington Post, a Massive Open Online Course is a college-level class offered for free online. The courses are available to anyone with an Internet connection, whether or not they are currently enrolled in a college or university. The classes allow students to study and learn on their own time, and at any location, unlike traditional courses that follow a set schedule in a classroom.

MOOCs have garnered interest from a number of institutions of higher education, particularly for-profit schools and newer startups in online education. Coursera, one of the best-known companies offering MOOCs at this time, has partnered with institutions like Harvard and Stanford to bring the MOOC model to those prestigious college campuses. Other MOOC companies, including Udacity and edX, are also busy signing up college partners for their online courses.

This video explains MOOC.

A Degree Program sans Textbooks? One Community College Says Yes

College is expensive, but at least one community college is looking for a way to help students cut the cost of a college education. Tidewater Community College in Virginia has announced plans to debut a textbook-free degree program next year. College officials estimate the pilot program could cut the cost of the degree by as much as a third by the time graduation rolls around.

Learning Business without Textbooks

The Richmond-Times Dispatch reports that Tidewater Community College will be offering an associate of science degree in business administration this fall that will require no textbook purchases throughout the program. Instead, students will use open-source educational materials, known as OER, which they will be able to access through the school’s learning management system on smartphones or tablets. The college will be the first to offer a complete degree program without any textbooks required.

The program was developed as a partnership between Tidewater Community College and Lumen Learning, an Oregon-based company that helps schools across the country incorporate OERs into their learning plans. The founder of Lumen, David Wiley, has advocated for open education for the past 15 years, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. However, no school has been open to the concept of a completely textbook-free degree program until now.

“It’s frustrating to watch these resources keep getting created, and then watch nobody use them and the students get no benefit,” Wiley

Online education has been increasing in popularity for adult students over the past decade. Yahoo Education reports that in 2010, 27 percent of adult degree-granting institutions were seeking their degrees online and that number is predicted to go as high as 39 percent by 2015. Today, adult students can find a wealth of options for in-demand degrees that they can earn almost exclusively from the comfort of home. Check out these online degrees you can earn in just two years or less.

Business Administration

Business degrees are relatively easy to earn online and offer a variety of options in today’s workforce. Online education is an appropriate replica of the current business world since much of today’s administrative work is handled via the Internet. For those interested in a professional career in this field, business administration offers a solid foundation that opens the door to a variety of business occupations. With studies in accounting, human resources, and management, you can hone your professional skills for the 21st-century workforce without ever straying far from your home computer.

Paralegal Studies

The paralegal field is one of the fastest-growing occupations today, according to Yahoo Education. The website cites numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that predict this field to grow by 24 percent between 2008 and 2018. Paralegal professionals work alongside attorneys in their practices, conducting research, writing briefs, and educating clients about their cases. The average annual salary for paralegals today ranges

Community colleges strive to operate as institutions of higher education that meet the needs of many today. Convenience and flexibility are the watchwords of these schools that host adult students with a wide range of family and professional responsibilities. To achieve those goals, many community colleges across the country are increasing their selection of online and hybrid courses, allowing many busy students to get in at least a portion of their study time from the comfort of home. As the demand for online coursework continues to grow, community colleges grapple with how to provide ultimate flexibility to students without sacrificing instructional quality or completion rates to give students the education options they are asking for.

A Look Back at The Growth of Online Options

Historically, online courses have been increasing at community colleges nationwide since 2005, according to a recent report at Santa Ynez Valley News. The publication cites a report, titled, “Going the Distance: Online Education in the United States, 2011,” which showed that 32 percent more students took an online course during the fall 2011 term. That means more than 6.7 million community college students took advantage of online opportunities during that semester alone.

The number marks a significant increase in online courses from the same semester in 2008 when just 4.6 million students at community colleges took an online course. The 2008 numbers were a 17-percent increase from 2007, suggesting an uptick in the demand for online courses overall. In fact,