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
