Weekly Tips
Course Delivery Modes
UVSC Distance Education offers courses through a variety of delivery modes, each designed to meet different teaching and learning needs:
Online
Students access a website for course instructions, lectures, assignments and materials, and to communicate. Internet classes promote interactivity between students and course content, between students and instructors, and among students. Advantages of this format include:
- You can study any time with whomever you want and without having to travel or dress up. But be careful not to let this flexibility and convenience become your downfall. You still have to work hard!
- You probably know from classroom experiences how a certain handful of students sometimes dominate the "air time" with the professor. Online courses often give more and better opportunities to ask questions. FAQs and discussion forums are great places to find clarifications and to dig deeper into the subject.
TV Broadcast
These are delivered on KUEN, KULC, KORM Comcast Cable, or through Comcast Video on Demand. The broadcast delivers lectures and assignments one-way from the instructor to students. However, the course also has a website, and internet access is required. So, with the exception of the 24x7 access to lectures, TV classes possess the same basic advantages as those delivered online (24x7 access is gained by renting the DVDs or tapes).
DVD/VHS
The broadcast classes are available from Distance Education Service Center as a set of DVDs or VHS tapes. They may be picked up in person, or they can be shipped to you. The cost is $60, with a $25 refund when the media is returned by the due date in good condition. Having the media provides access to all of the lectures in the course. This is useful if you live outside the broadcast area, or if you wish to make your TV course mobile with a laptop computer. [Link to rental form]
Live Interactive
While the other formats are asynchronous in both time and place, Live Interactive is synchronous in time. This means that classes take place at a specific time, but through the use of statewide interactive video and audio technologies, students are distributed at various locations such as at different campuses, at high schools, and at community centers. These classes often have website components, but the sites typically will have less content than those of other courses.
- You can access your course 24x7. Make sure you include the required due dates for your class as you make your own schedule for completing learning requirements.