Nov 21, 2024  
2024-2025 Catalog/Student Handbook 
    
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2024-2025 Catalog/Student Handbook

Online Classes

If you think you’d be interested in taking online classes, you need to determine which format is the right one for you. SVCC encourages students to complete the Is Online Learning Right for Me? Quiz to help you identify the appropriate delivery method for you.

Here’s a quick explanation of the different delivery methods SVCC offers:

  • Fully Online Courses (also called Asynchronous Online): These classes meet fully online with no face-to-face class meetings and no scheduled class time. Students access the course via the Canvas site and keep pace with the work weekly, submitting assignments as they come due. Requirements: Reliable internet access, an appropriate device for accessing the course and completing assignments, and good time management skills.
  • Zoom to Home (also called Synchronous Online): Classes meet on the days and times listed on the class schedule; however, you attend from home utilizing a Zoom invitation provided by your instructor. You will connect in real-time with the teacher and other students. Requirements: Reliable internet access, an appropriate device with functional webcam and microphone, (ideally) a dedicated space for uninterrupted class participation, and the ability to connect to all classes for all set meeting days and times.
  • Hybrid: Part of the class time meets in person, on-campus (or at an off-campus center) on the days, times, and locations listed on the class schedule. Part of the class is completed online using Canvas, with no scheduled class time. Not every hybrid course meets in person on the same schedule, or the same number of meetings. Requirements: Social distancing will be observed as per the CDC guidelines with students wearing face coverings and having proof of completed daily wellness checks. Also required is reliable transportation for in-person meetings days, and reliable computer and internet access for the online portions of the course.
  • Videobroadcast Class via Zoom: Classes meet on the days, times, and locations listed on the class schedule. Essentially, this is a seated class where instructors will facilitate instruction from one site to other campuses and off-campus centers across our service area via Zoom. Requirements: Transportation to the location each time the class meets and reliable technology and internet access for any required work outside of class.

SVCC coordinates online courses with NOVA Online and includes them in the SVCC course catalog. Because of this unique arrangement, an SVCC student can take online classes from other community college partners without having to transfer credits or apply to other institutions, because the classes are considered part of the Southside Virginia Community College curriculum. However, these classes are not taught by Southside faculty, so students will need to familiarize themselves with help options for the class by reading the course syllabus.

 

To learn all about taking Online Learning, go to https://southside.edu/online-learning-svcc.

 

Southside Virginia Community College has been approved to participate in the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements. As described on the NC-SARA website, A college or university that has been approved to participate in SARA may offer distance education programs to students in other SARA member states. Importantly, these institutions have met several requirements that help ensure their quality and student consumer protections, including:

  • The institution is a degree-granting institution, appropriately authorized (by Congress, a U.S. state, territory or district, or a federally recognized Indian tribe) to award associate degrees or higher.
  • The institution is institutionally accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and whose scope of recognition, as specified by the U.S. Department of Education, includes distance education.
  • The institution agrees that, in cases where the institution cannot fully deliver the instruction for which a student has contracted, it will provide a reasonable alternative for delivering the instruction or reasonable financial compensation for the education the student did not receive.