Building the on-line bridge: Helping community college students meet liberal studies and prerequisite course requirments

CHED 19

Edward L Case, ecase@email.wcu.edu, Education Leadership and Foundations, Western Carolina University, 250 Killian Building, Cullowee, NC 28273
Community college students often arrive at the university only to find that their community college course work does not meet the prerequisites for courses in their program of study. In an effort to meet the needs of the growing number of community college transfers, Western Carolina University is developing an “On-line Bridge Program.” This program is a series of courses designed to allow students to meet course prerequisites and liberal studies requirements. As these are online courses, students will have the opportunity to complete them in the summer prior to arriving on campus in the fall. One of the courses in the program is Introductory Chemistry. This presentation will discuss the successes, challenges, and lessons learned during the first summer of offering the course online.