Course Delivery Options

The JCCC English Department offers its curriculum through a variety of delivery systems to serve a large student population and its diverse needs. When making schedule requests, faculty are asked for their preferences about their assignment: days of the week, time of day, type of room, face-to-face or online. Unfortunately, all requests cannot always be granted, as senior faculty get priority over junior faculty, but everyone will be able to make more accurate requests if they know the terminology JCCC uses at the departmental and institutional level.

Most English courses are offered on a 15-week schedule; however, the department also offers “late start” courses (online and in person) that run 2 to 4 weeks shorter than the traditional semester, as well as sequential courses designed to run back-to-back so students can complete, for example, both ENGL 121 and ENGL 122 in a single semester.

Face-to-Face (F2F)

A clear majority of JCCC students prefer to take courses in person on a traditional schedule. Most F2F courses are offered on these weekly schedules:

• Three 50-minute sessions (MWF – day)
• Two 75-minute sessions (TR-day)
• One 150-minute session (night or some seminars)

In summer, most courses are offered as four 75-minute sessions (MTWR – day) or two 150-minute sessions (MW or TR – day or night).

Faculty can request their F2F sections to be scheduled in one of several types of classrooms (again, the more seniority one has, the more likely one gets requests honored).

• Traditional classrooms – traditional are equipped with an internet-connected computer at the instructor’s station, a projector, and a document camera that can be used to present non-digital papers or artifacts. All rooms have access to wifi, although the bandwidth varies from classroom to classroom. Student seating will be at tables or tablet arm desks. Each room must have one table or space that is handicapped accessible.
• Computer classrooms – computer classrooms at JCCC have desktop computers at each student place as well as the instructor’s station. The computers can have course-specific software instructors use (like Audacity for audio editing) if it is requested and approved through the department.
• Active learning classrooms – classrooms have the traditional instructor’s station as well as flexible furniture (generally small tables that are easily moved. Active learning classrooms have Chrome Books or laptops stored in a cart to recharge when not in use and large screen monitors on the walls.

Online

Online courses are offered through the JCCC learning management system Canvas. Prior to teaching online, faculty must complete the iTeach Online course. To enroll or learn the options, contact the Director of Educational Technology, Ed Lovett (elovett@jccc.edu). The English Department does not use a required “master course;” faculty are responsible for writing their own syllabus and designing their unique assignments to meet the course objectives. Faculty are expected to maintain regular contact with students and to respond to student papers and emails within a reasonable length of time (establishing response time expectations in the syllabus is recommended).

Hybrid

Hybrid courses offer instruction through a combination of Face-to-Face and online instruction; the course has fewer, but nonetheless required, F2F meetings, which are established and published in the schedule when students enroll. The course uses JCCC learning management system (Canvas) which can be supplemented with other software.

Self-paced

Self-paced courses are offered by 12-month faculty; specific courses are offered each semester; professors and students work through a set curriculum together on an individually-paced schedule. The course is open-entry (students can enroll throughout the semester on the self-paced timeline, which starts approximately 2 months prior to the traditional beginning of each term and ends approximately 4 to 6 weeks before the end of a semester) and open-exit, meaning students can complete the course in as little as 5-6 weeks to a year. Students sign a 6-month contract and can apply for an extension for up to a year. Students can transfer from traditional courses to the self-paced course with no penalty for a short time after the traditional semester.