What’s Your Why, How, and What?

This post cites compelling reasons why our Computer Networking and Troubleshooting Technology program should begin now to integrate online courses with existing face-to-face courses at Lamar Institute of Technology. 

Why Introduce Online Course Offerings into the Computer Networking & Troubleshooting Technology Program (CNTT) at the Lamar Institute of Technology (LIT)?

Why:  Lamar Institute of Technology believes that the quality education we provide enables a diverse student population to achieve its education goals, with a focus on innovative education.

How:  We respond to community needs by designing curriculum and instructional methodologies and providing the technological equipment relevant to changing society.

What:  We provide online course offerings in order to best serve our students with reliable, continuous, and flexible methods of instruction.

In our Vision and Mission Statements, the Lamar Institute of Technology stresses the commitment to reach our diverse population, with a focus on embracing innovation. (Lamar Institute of Technology). The goal to serve all our students, in their differing situations, requires the adaptability of “thinking outside the box,” which should include teaching “outside the classroom.”

First, in Southeast Texas, Summer and Fall semesters are sometimes affected by mandatory hurricane evacuations. To maintain continuous instruction during those evacuations,  students enrolled in face-to-face classes could be switched over to the online course counterparts. Without online course offerings, several weeks of the semester can be lost, resulting in students who eventually fail, drop classes, or even leave college. To provide continuity when disaster strikes, we need to recognize the urgency of developing those counterparts now.

Second, LIT struggles with the ongoing problem of retention of working students. Many of the CNTT Program’s students have full-time jobs and attend LIT part-time. Every semester, we lose students who would otherwise continue in the program but cannot, due to their conflicting work schedules. The introduction of online course offerings will allow students to enroll in online courses when necessary, encouraging retention. Each student we lose should trigger a sense of urgency to retain the ones who remain.

Finally, the introduction of online course offerings in the CNTT program could (1) increase student enrollment due to more courses being offered and (2) support the growing popularity of our existing dual-enrollment high school programs and the expansion of dual-enrollment into yet more area high schools.

Vision and Mission Statements - Lamar Institute of Technology. (n.d.). Retrieved January 22, 2017, from http://www.lit.edu/about/MissionStatement.aspx