Distance Education What is Distance Education? DistanceEduation encompasses many college credit courses for which a student can register. Distance education involves primarily those courses that are taught in a student-driven manner, and can be (largely) completed without committing to attending a traditional lecture based course on the college campus. What Distance Education opportunities are available at Highland Community College? Video based courses (also called telecourses). These courses offer lecture style material in a video format. Students can check out videos in the Highland library or in many libraries spread across the Highland district. Contact with instructors is often handled by telephone, and sometimes by Internet. Testing for telecourses is done in a proctored setting, usually at the Highland library or one of several libraries in the Highland district. Testing is done via the Internet. Students are responsible for coursework assigned by their instructor as well as the tests. Each telecourse is a little different. More information on telecourses at http://www.highland.edu/online/telecourses.asp Internet Courses. Some distance education courses are offered solely by Internet. These courses require login to a website where your course is offered. Assignments and lecture material are distributed in the Internet format. These courses may or may not allow you to work at your own pace, depending upon the teaching method of the individual instructors. Communication with the instructor is primarily done within the course or via e-mail. Some courses utilize video or audio materials available over the Internet, others are primarily text-based courses. What skills or equipment do I need to take advantage of Distance Education opportunities? Telecourses require little more than a VCR or a cable TV connection. Some familiarity with using web browsers (such as the Microsoft Internet Explorer) is required for testing. Internet access at home is not necessarily necessary, as testing is done at various library locations. Internet Courses require familiarity with using web browsers. It is also to your advantage if you are able to use e-mail programs and word processors. For particular courses, it may also be to your advantage to be familiar with using a word processor. Questions? Call an Academic Advisor 815-599-3500 Academic advisors can step you through your options and help you find out which distance education courses are currently availble and are a good choice for you!Bottom of Form