May 6, 2013
Summer Sessions courses - both online and on campus - are filling up quickly. Registration opened in March and is still open.
Increasingly college students are looking to summer classes as an affordable way to get ahead, catch up, or explore a new subject. But not everyone has to come to campus.
Catholic University continues to expand its offering of online courses. More than 40 online courses are available this summer in a variety of disciplines including business and economics, modern languages, theology, philosophy, sociology, and chemistry.
"More and more students want to continue their education during the summer while having the flexibility to return home and hold jobs and internships," says Harriet Nokuri, assistant vice president for summer sessions and entrepreneurship programs. "They want the flexibility and the affordability."
Nokuri is quick to point out that online learning and teaching are very different from classroom education. "We offer formal training programs for our professors who teach online and we urge students to consider that online learning requires time management and self-direction and motivation."
"As more and more universities are beginning to offer online courses, I think it's important for university professors to think about whether their courses can be taught online and more importantly, to think about whether they can teach their courses well online," says Angela Knobel, associate professor of philosophy.
She is teaching The Classical Mind: The Origin and Growth of Western Philosophy this summer. It's her first time teaching online. She recently completed the formal training program on online teaching offered by the University. "Seeing an online course from a student's perspective was very valuable," she says.
Last summer, Kate Miedrich, a psychology major from Franklin Square, N.Y., took an online psychology course, Cognitive Disabilities.
"The course was very challenging and I really learned a lot. But I never felt like I was in school over the summer while taking the course and that was really important to me. I could enjoy all the great things about summer, learn new material, and get course credit," she says.
This summer, Miedrich is taking another online course, Reasoning and Argumentation taught by Gregory Doolan, associate professor of philosophy. As a member of the Class of 2013, she will graduate this month, but the summer course will allow her to complete her philosophy minor.
Andreas Widmer, director of entrepreneurship programs in the School of Business and Economics, says he is excited to teach Ethics in Business and Economics online this summer. "I've had a career in the software and Internet industry, so I thought it logical that I could engage technology to teach," he says.
Widmer says online learning is "like telecommuting for students."
Time management, he says, is the key to online success. "Don't try to do everything at once - time management is even more important in an online class than an in-person class because of the flexibility it offers. The danger is that if you're not used to this kind of flexibility, you can end up falling farther and farther behind in the work until it's impossible to catch up. So keep up with it - even try to get ahead of it," says Widmer.
For more information on all of CUA's summer courses -online and on campus - visit the Office of Summer Sessions at summer.cua.edu.