Gas or electric? Like many businesses today, car manufacturers offer consumers options. Suppose you like both options? You’ve heard of hybrid vehicles that alternately run on gasoline and electricity depending on the circumstances. In years past, businesses created products and customers either bought them or they didn’t. In today’s competitive environment, enlightened business owners have learned to offer customers various options in attempt to better serve those customers’ needs. Customers have grown used to having options and options are no less important when the product they are buying is education. Most post-secondary educational institutions, Robeson Community College included, offer students options for earning their degrees.

One of the primary means of offering students options is in the course delivery format. Cars are offered in gas and electric models; courses are offered in traditional face-to-face and online models. Some folks find hybrid gas/electric cars to their liking; some students find that hybrid classes, a blend of face-to-face interaction and online assignments, best fit their needs.

Almost everyone is familiar with the traditional face-to-face classroom model as it was the predominant model in American education for over 150 years and continues to be in elementary and secondary school. More and more people are becoming acquainted with online classes as technology has improved over the past 25 years, and curriculum writers and course developers have tried to keep pace with the technology.

When the new technologies first began, think early Internet, many educators simply tried to move the face-to-face experience online using text and discussion forums. Students now have access to media-rich experiences involving text, image, audio, video, chat and a host of other ways to interact with instructors, content experts and other students.

The convenience of class anytime, anywhere is very appealing, but online classes are not always without trade-offs. Many students who have tried online classes have learned that there is some value in having a teacher more directly accessible, as in a face-to-face format.

The face-to-face format offers an immediacy and feedback via verbal and nonverbal cues that is difficult, if not impossible, to recreate in the online environment. Hybrid classes are an attempt to offer students the best of both worlds. Students meet in a face-to-face format, but not as frequently as in traditional classes. In a hybrid class, many of the assignments and supplemental resources are placed online for students to access at their convenience. If a student needs assistance with such assignments, he or she can contact the instructor or another student online, but can also raise questions or discuss issues with the online assignments at the next face-to-face class meeting.

Robeson Community College offers students the option of face-to-face, online and hybrid classes in attempt to help students meet their educational needs. The college tries to offer students flexibility in other ways also. Other examples of this are eight-week and 12-week course offerings. A traditional semester is usually 15 to 16 weeks long. Robeson Community College has created classes that meet for eight or 12 weeks to provide students with more options.

The college will begin a selection of 12-week classes beginning on Sept. 15, and a selection of eight-week classes beginning Oct. 16. For information about these offerings, visit robeson.edu/cschedules. If you would like to take one of these courses contact our admissions office at 910-272-3342 or complete an application online at robeson.edu/admissions.

Dennis Watts
https://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_Denis-Watts_cmyk.jpgDennis Watts

Dennis Watts

Dennis Watts is the public information officer for Robeson Community College.