Online Learning
Types of Courses
The following terms describe the delivery methods of online courses offered at West Georgia Technical College:
Online —A course in which all instruction occurs online and testing may occur online or in a proctored environment.
Hybrid — A course in which 25-50 percent of the learning activities are conducted online. Traditional class meeting times will vary within these guidelines, depending on course content and instructor discretion. Meeting times will be predetermined and specified in the semester class schedule.
Web-enhanced — A traditional classroom course that uses the Internet as a component of the course. That component supports classroom instruction and may require students to use the internet in order to interact with one another and the instructor, do research, complete and/or submit assignments, or take tests.
Requirements
The content, assessments, and student learning outcomes of online courses are of the same content, instructional quality and rigor as those of hybrid or web-enhanced courses. The primary difference is that online courses offer students an alternative form of course delivery that is more flexible and convenient than hybrid or web-enhanced courses. As a trade-off, however, online courses require a greater time commitment than hybrid or web-enhanced courses. Students who take online courses need strong skills in studying, time management, Internet navigation, and reading comprehension to be successful. Individual courses may require additional specific skills, such as proficiency in word processing. Following instructions, working independently, and submitting assignments by due dates are an important part of online learning. Students must have frequent access to a computer (preferably at home) and a reliable Internet provider as some providers are not compatible with the online platform. (For more information on appropriate providers and online requirements, see our Online Learning web page.)
It is not recommended for students in provisional status to register for online courses. Learning support and online courses are both demanding, and trying to do both decreases a student’s chance of academic success. Students enrolled in learning support reading courses cannot register for online courses. Students who failed or withdrew from a specific course or provisional students who fail to meet minimum assessed proficiency requirements for a course will not be allowed to take that course online.
WGTC supports the choice of students to take online courses from the institution of their choice and participates as a National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA) approved institution. The State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) is an agreement among its member states, districts and U.S. territories that establishes comparable national standards for interstate offering of postsecondary distance-education courses and programs. It is intended to make it easier for students to take online courses offered by postsecondary institutions in a state other than the one where they reside.