By Ashley Bradley/ne news editor
Surveys with questions asking what students would like to see available for the weekend courses and if they would prefer them in the evenings or mornings were found in NE Campus students’ inboxes last week.
TR and NE campuses will offer three-day weekend courses starting in the fall 2010 semester.
Officials hope to learn what kinds of students would find interest in the weekend courses and also whether students would use them to work toward their degree or for specific certificates.
“We want to reach out to both non-traditional students that can’t come to school Monday-Friday and also to returning veterans,” said survey organizer and Phi Theta Kappa president Robin Dighton.
She said the district wants to help veterans in every way possible, especially by letting them know about the programs designed to help them.
“They have a hard time reaching out to them because they normally don’t like coming forward,” Dighton said. “The survey is a way we can find out if they know about the different resources and to see if they would be interested in certain courses during the weekend program.”
In the upcoming spring semester, some courses are available on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and the classes last about three hours, one day a week.
In fall 2010, the weekend courses should run more like traditional classes with shorter class times, but with classes meeting three times a week — Friday, Saturday and Sunday, said NE Campus President Larry Darlage.
Dighton said she has tried to put the survey together for months and believes the program will benefit all students, not just those who take the majority of their classes on other campuses.
“I started all of this the first week of the semester,” she said. “I want this information to get out to any student willing to take part.”
Darlage said the main reason the weekend courses have taken so long to put together stems from staff and instructors who want to work weekends.
“Students will expect to have all of the support and resources other traditional students have, and I want to make sure they have them,” he said.
He said it would seem as if the campus was running all day, every day.
“The survey is to help us get organized because we have to do things so much in advance,” he said. “We’ll need to develop the fall schedule in the spring.”
He said to prepare for the courses, he needs to hire people for the bookstore, counseling center, financial aid office and other support services.
Currently, students interested in taking classes on Fridays and Saturdays in the spring 2010 semester can get more information on the TCC Web site.
To access the information, go to the navy bar at the top, click “Courses and Programs” and look for “Weekend College.”
