Broward Community College, which will become Broward College on July 1st, has received accreditation from SACS (the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) to offer a number of degrees fully online, announced President J. David Armstrong, Jr. “We’ve been offering online classes for almost 10 years. However, we now have a sufficient number and variety of courses to enable us to offer entire degrees online. The college’s fully online degree programs provide more flexibility in achieving a higher education for our diverse community of learners than we have ever been able to provide before,” Armstrong said.
The online degrees now available are: AA degree in liberal arts, AS and AAS degrees in accounting and business administration and four technical certificates, with several more coming soon.
Russ Adkins, BCC’s associate vice president for instructional technology, noted that the college’s first online initiative began in 1999 with the nursing program. “Over time, our faculty members have grown increasingly interested in teaching online, and we have responded by supporting them as they developed the necessary skills and knowledge to be online educators. Our goal is to provide our students with quality, affordable educational options so that they don’t have to look elsewhere to get the degree they need.”
One student who said she takes most of her courses online already is Amanda Diaz, 20. “I think this is a great way for people who work full time to continue their education. As a working student, it’s more accommodating,” she said. “I don’t have set hours at work so I can’t plan my classes around work.” Also, she added, with rising gas prices, taking courses online saves her money. “I’ve taken a variety of online classes, more than 50 percent of my requirements, such as health, biology, computers and psychology,” she said. Diaz, an English major, has one more semester of coursework to complete and then she plans to transfer to a four-year university.
In the works at BCC are: “an online AS degree in emergency medical services and more AA degree program options for students who plan to transfer to a university,” Adkins said. “We also have a number of very flexible, ‘blended’ programs that reduce on-campus attendance requirements in the areas of nursing, aviation, automotive technology and teacher certification.”
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