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VGCC Offers Online Learning: Home-Based Computer Classes

Vance-Granville Community College officials are calling its new Computer Center offerings “a revolutionary method of instruction.”

Beginning in January 1999, the school will offer web-based training that people can take from their own homes or offices with any computer with Internet connections. And they don’t have to own the software or have it loaded on their computers to take a class.

Called Online Learning, the training will offer 44 courses that students can gain access to at any time, day or night. These include variations of Access, Excel, FrontPage, Internet Explorer, Netscape, PowerPoint, Windows, Word and many others. By signing onto the VGCC computer system, the courses will give the student the look, feel and interactivity of actual software applications.

Modular lessons give participants the option of determining the length of work sessions. If the student has a problem grasping one of the features of a software product, they may take the lesson over again.

Students must have Windows 3.1 or greater programs, or they must have Windows NT Workstation 4.0 or greater. Netscape Navigator 2.02 or greater, or Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.01 or greater are also required. A LearnFlow plug-in will be provided upon registration for a class. A sound card and speaker are optional.

VGCC is even offering three ways to register for Online Learning.

Persons may register in person by attending one of the registration/get started sessions, to be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 11, and 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 12. Both sessions will be held in Room 6106 on VGCC’s main campus, where students may complete the registration form, pay fees, get an Online Learning User I.D. and password. Instructors will walk students through the process of downloading the plug-in and let them log on to the first lesson.

Participants may register by phone by calling 492-2061, ext. 3417. They will answer a series of questions so VGCC officials can fill out the registration form. The student will send the college a check for fees, after which an instructor will call the person to give them a user I.D and password, as well as step-by-step instructions to get started. Instructions will also be sent by mail or e-mail.

The third registration method offered is online. Users may call up the college’s Distance Education World Wide Web sit at http://oit.vgcc.edu/coned/ and find the registration form, which they can fill out on their own computer screen. Credit card information must be included on the form, but transmission is secure. Like the phone registration, once online registration is received, the student will be issued user I.D., password and instructions by e-mail.

A sign-on fee of $38 per semester will be charged, and there will be a fee of $35 for each course taken. The college accepts VISA and MasterCard.

A complete list of classes available online is available on the Distance Education Web site or in the Spring 1999 issue of ARCHES, which was mailed to all homes in Vance, Granville, Warren and Franklin counties, and which are also available at the college, in libraries and other public facilities.

For more information or for answers to specific questions, call Ann Behar, coordinator of the VGCC Computer Extension Program, at 492-2061, ext. 3417.