By Eric Stevick
Herald Writer
LYNNWOOD — Scott Broderick was skeptical, to say the least, when his wife approached him with an idea about how they should spend their summer.
April Broderick’s plan: Pack up their 1990 Buick Regal with their 3-year-old son, cross the country over three months and take college classes toward their associate’s degrees at Edmonds Community College.
"I didn’t like the idea," Scott Broderick said flatly. "I thought she was crazy. I thought she was absolutely out of her mind and that it would never happen."
Hundreds of photos and college transcripts document that it can and did happen. They wound their way through 19 states, earning 10 credits, with solid grades along the way.
The Brodericks are among a wave of students taking online computer courses at Edmonds Community College, Everett Community College and across the state.
Each quarter, Edmonds Community College offers 60 or 70 courses online covering almost the entire range of academic disciplines.
Online classes, along with video-based and correspondence courses, are part of an education delivery system known as distance learning. Until a few years ago, video courses made up the majority of distance learning enrollment among community technical colleges in the state. Online courses now represent about 55 percent.
Being off campus is no free ticket to an easy degree, college officials say.
Everett Community College warns students that most distance learning classes require more reading and writing assignments than the on-campus equivalents.
Students must be "highly motivated and self-directed" to succeed in distance learning courses, and should plan on 10 to 15 hours per week per course, Everett Community College officials said.
Online learning is growing rapidly, said Lorna Sutton, director of college relations for the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges.
However, about 80 percent of students taking online classes are also enrolled in courses on the campus. In Washington, students taking online classes are more likely to be women, full-time students and plan to complete a two-year degree.
Roughly 1,400 Edmonds Community College students take classes online each quarter. Students from across the United States as well as Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East have taken online courses from the college.
Scott and April Broderick, both 33, didn’t even have access to their own computer when they took their philosophy and business classes over the summer. They planned to buy a laptop, but the money ran out.
Instead, they stopped at libraries in cities along the way, and were given computer access from friends and friends of friends they visited.
The hours on the road offered a chance to discuss their lessons.
"The philosophy class was hilarious," April said. "We got into so many debates and so many arguments. We would even debate, ‘what is an argument?’ "
The Brodericks plan to attend Western Washington University in Bellingham next fall. Scott Broderick wants to become a schoolteacher, and April Broderick plans to study visual communications with an eye toward a career in advertising. The trip allowed her to record images she may someday be able to use.
Scott Broderick said he still prefers traditional classes to the Internet classroom. If April Broderick had her druthers, she would take an online class each quarter.
In many ways, she said, she gets to know classmates online better than the students she sees in her traditional classes. Students are more likely to speak up and compose their thoughts when they are online, and they have all day to do it, she said. She also knows the instructor will answer her questions.
Sutton said faculty commitment to academic standards along with accreditation requirements are in place to maintain quality instruction. If academic programs lose accreditation, they will most likely lose students.
Kevin McKay, distance learning coordinator at Edmonds Community College, doesn’t believe online courses will supplant the traditional classroom, particularly classes with science labs. However, he can imagine more classes combining the two where students attend classes part of the week and consult their computers the rest of the time.
Edmonds started distance-learning classes by necessity. It had a grant to offer regional energy management classes from the Bonneville Power Administration, which required that the courses be available in four Pacific Northwest states.
"We were just trying to solve a specific challenge," McKay said. "We didn’t think of it becoming a major way for the college to deliver education."
You can call Herald Writer Eric Stevick at 425-339-3446
or send e-mail to stevick@heraldnet.com.
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