8 NEWS
SANTA ANA COLLEGE el Don/eldonnews.org • MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2015
PERFORMANCE IN ONLINE COURSES RISING
BY CHEANTAY JENSEN / el Don
For the first time in Santa Ana College’s
history, online students did better than
those enrolled in traditional classes.
Until last year, total Web course success rate was lower than that of traditional students.
Cherylee Kushida, SAC’s online education coordinator, attributes the previous
struggle to students’ misperception of
how online courses are completed.
“A lot of people think it’s easier, and it’s
not easier. It takes just as much time and
actually takes more from the student in
terms of motivation and self-discipline,”
Kushida said.
Online courses are becoming an increasingly important part of a community college student’s education.
In a decade-long report of online
versus traditional courses, online enrollment in California’s community colleges
has more than doubled, according to
Hans Johnson of the Public Policy Institute of California.
Total online enrollment at SAC has risen since 2010, with the largest increase
of 491 students occurring from 2013 to
2014, a five-year-long study revealed.
At Santiago Canyon College enrollment has remained steady, though the
number of courses offered at both campuses has doubled since 2010.
California has invested in online education. Gov. Jerry Brown allotted $16.9
million towards Web education efforts
last year.
As a result, a project known as the Online Education Initiative was created in
2014 to increase the number of students
who can earn their associate degrees online and transfer to a four-year college.
The goals of the OEI include improving education by offering a uniform
Common Course Management System,
innovating online teaching methods,
and offering student readiness as well as
counseling programs.
Students who took both online and
traditional courses were more likely to
receive their associate or transfer than
those taking traditional courses alone,
according to Hans Johnson of PPIC.
SAC allows students to attain their
associate deg &VW2V