Starting winter term at Klamath Community College, students will be able to take some of their courses online, a development that could mean future growth for the school.School officials received approval Wednesday from their accrediting body, the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, to offer up to 10 online courses, said Ryan Brown, chief information officer.The college will offer seven courses online, and hopes they will be available for registration by early December, said Pat Hockersmith, distance education coordinator.The implementation of the program fulfills one of the top priorities new KCC President Roberto Gutierrez outlined when taking office, Brown said.KCC will work with Learning House, an online education partner that helps institutions develop online programs.The college will utilize Learning House’s infrastructure to offer the online courses, and the company will also help train the faculty and assist in designing the courses, Hockersmith said.The change may require the hiring of new faculty to handle the additional course load, although the college could use existing, qualified adjunct instructors to teach the classes as well, Brown said.There is no upfront cost for the college to implement the Learning House program, though the company will receive 18 percent of the tuition from the online courses, Brown said.This model incentivizes our partner to do their very best to help us create a superior online experience for our students,said Interim Vice President for Administrative Services Eric Stasak.
While the program is starting small, it has the potential to play a large role in the college’s future if it is successful.Eventually the plan is to have entire online programs so someone could complete a degree without setting their foot on campus,” Brown said. “Right now the vast majority of our students come from within our local district, but when you have online classes available, somebody could be anywhere in the world and take classes.Entire programs could be available online as early as next fall, Hockersmith said.While the tuition for online courses will be the same as traditional courses, there may be a fee that the college will need to charge for distance education, Hockersmith said.The move brings KCC up to date with other community colleges in Oregon, which already offer distance education courses.We’re a little bit late to join the party, but we are more concerned with doing it right, in a way that best helps our students, than with the timeline, Brown said.College officials also hope the program will provide a boost to KCC’s declining enrollment, which fell 25 percent in the fall term. Enrollment for winter courses has begun, and 780 students — or 66 percent of fall enrollment have registered so far, a figure that has college officials confident that winter enrollment will be stronger than the fall.
