VALDOSTA — Online courses are helping to make the pursuit of higher education more flexible.

At both Valdosta Technical College and Valdosta State University students have three ways to take courses — the traditional classroom setting with a teacher lecturing, on the World Wide Web, or by a combination of the two.

At both institutions, classes taught on campus are now being Web enhanced so students and teachers can take advantage of the online aspect by posting and responding to coursework via the Internet.

“Students can have the syllabus, worksheets, directions and presentations, but they still meet with the teacher in a traditional setting,” said Sally Dorminey, instructional technology coordinator at Valdosta Technical College.

Overall 1,680 students are enrolled in online classes at Valdosta State University.

During fall 2008, more than 350 new students enrolled in online graduate programs at Valdosta State University. The fall enrollment heralded a 50 percent increase in online graduate course enrollment. The entire online graduate program now has 875 students — the most in the regional university’s history.

Valdosta Technical College began offering online courses in 2002. In the first year, 66 students enrolled in five different courses, Dorminey said.

Now the program has more than 2,000 students enrolled in online classes and another 600 participating in hybrid classes.

“Even though the price of gasoline has gone down a little bit, people are really looking at hybrid and online courses as money-saving alternatives,” Dorminey said.

Valdosta State University started offering online courses in 1994, said John Sizemore, assistant director for distance learning.

“Quickly, VSU saw that there was a need for online graduate programs, and that’s really where our focus has been,” Sizemore said. “Our experience has been that the returning graduate students have more need for programs that fit their professional and family lifestyle.”

It can be hard for graduate students to schedule their work around classes held during the day.

“This helps them to continue their education and to continue to work and be in the workforce,” Sizemore said.

While online courses are offered at both the undergraduate and graduate levels at the university, online degree programs are still mainly focused in the graduate school, he said.

More than 200 students are enrolled in the new collaborative Master of Education programs, and 44 students are enrolled in Valdosta State University’s new Doctor of Public Administration program that began in fall of 2007.

“Valdosta Tech has always been a haven for people who want to improve their job skills and get a leg up in what they are currently doing,” Dorminey said. “Many of our students have a lot of other commitments. They have families. They have jobs, so the online atmosphere gives them 24/7 access to online learning anytime, anywhere.”

Online courses meet almost exclusively online, but students can be required to meet on campus for orientation programs at the beginning of the course, Sizemore said.

Dorminey and Christi Robertson, Valdosta Technical College instructional technical specialist, encourage students who do not have much experience with the Internet and computers to get help and maybe take a hybrid course first.

“For many, it’s just like a calculator to them. It’s a regular part of their lives, and so they expect to use that for learning,” Dorminey said. “But I work with students every day who have trouble with some of the basic things. Technology, for some, might be a stumbling block.”

Hybrid classes were started at Valdosta Technical College in 2007.

Over the 10-week period of a the quarter system, five-hour hybrid courses may meet for two hours face-to-face and have three hours of work online, Dorminey said.

There are currently 645 students enrolled in hybrid courses.

“The students and teachers like it because they still get the interaction with the teacher in a face-to-face setting, but they have the advantage of the anytime, anywhere aspect of online learning,” Dorminey said.

But some students, Dorminey said, may need that positive reinforcement found in a classroom.

“Even though they like the idea of not going to class every day and not meeting with the instructor, what some students really need is a lot of pats on the back and encouragement,” Dorminey said. “Our online students have that, but it is often through an email, and sometimes that is not enough for some people.”

The university also has hybrid classes for students, Sizemore said.

Incoming freshmen will have fewer problems adapting to the online work, Sizemore said.

“As online applications, like MySpace and Facebook, become more and more popular, the students that are coming into the institution already expect to work in online environments and are very comfortable with that,” Sizemore said.

The university’s online courses are hosted in a course management system called Blackboard Vista, which is also used with lecture classes and hybrid courses.

This past year the university hit a milestone with its course management system. One hundred percent of the student body is now using the online system in all three types of class settings offered.

“There is a trend ... where enrollment in distance education has been growing tremendously,” Sizemore said. “In fact, it is the fastest growing segment of student enrollment at both VSU and (on) a national level.”

Online courses are expanding access and providing an opportunity for many to go to school that just wasn’t possible before.

“It’s more convenient for students, and with the recent economic factors, it can be especially beneficial to students to be able to study from their workplace or from home and not have to travel to campus,” Sizemore said.

The university has seen a marked increase in online courses in the educational field.

“In education, there is a huge shortage or projected shortage of qualified teachers in the workforce, so many of our graduate programs either allow teachers and in-service teachers to become more highly qualified, or for graduate students with degrees in other fields, they can obtain their initial teaching certification,” Sizemore said.

A big push in helping teachers get educated is an initiative by the University System of Georgia called GeorgiaONmyLINE.

The program was launched in October 2007 for the 35 University System of Georgia institutions to remain competitive with online programs.

The university now has five new education programs in collaboration with other USG institutions, including a Master of Art in Teaching with a major in Special Education, Master of Education with a major in Instructional Technology, Master of Education with a major in Middle Grades Education, Master of Education with a major in Reading, Language and Literacy Education and Master of Arts in Teaching with a major in Reading, Language and Literacy Alternative Preparation.

The system provides an online searchable database for all distance learning courses offered in the University System of Georgia.

“It’s a great place for students to go if they are looking for an online course or degree program and find the institution that is offering a particular degree,” Sizemore said.

In the past year, VSU has also added seven new degree programs and two online certificates.

Several technical certificates can be acquired through online course work at Valdosta Tech. Health care assistant, Microsoft office applications specialist, child development associate, medical coding, insurance data entry specialist and medical language specialist are just a few that are taught entirely online.

To learn more about online courses and degree programs, please visit www.valdosta.edu/distance or www.valdostatech.edu/online/index.asp.