I work at a community college and our numbers are down. The traditional two year prep for transfer to a four year institution has dropped significantly. On the other hand our tech classes seem to be holding steady in terms of enrollment.
The online classes are nothing but busy work, you don’t learn anything. The online eight week classes are the worst of the lot. You write a lot of papers and have little to no actual instruction. The students and instructors are pushing for a traditional twelve or sixteen week in the classroom or a hybrid style classroom/online course but administration loves the mini-sessions because it’s lots of revenue bam-bam-bam class wise, but you are producing mediocrity with no practical learning or hands on experience.
The old guard four year prep instructors are furious that the college is adjusting to the fact the students want to learn a trade in a year or year and a half and then go to work. We are also having trouble retaining instructors in the trade/medical programs because they can make more money in the private sector.
A co-worker of mine’s cousin went to eighteen months of community college welding classes, passed and certified and his first year out of college was making around $60K-$75K a year. That is what the students want.
Thanks for the inside information. So, now, I understand why so many courses are online today.
One of the main reasons young people go to college is to interact with their peers. When they attend class in person, they meet people who share the same interests, which makes them more interested and excited about their majors. As you pointed out, online courses have very little interaction.
When all the courses went online during the lockdown, the classes weren’t as enjoyable. Now, many courses at both the CC and university levels still are only available online, so students interact with a computer screen, and they hate it. Many college-age kids have dropped out and/or opted for a different career track. Many online courses do cover a lot of material, but sitting at home in front of a computer for hours can be depressing and frustrating.