About Distance Learning

Craven Community College offers distance education courses in fully online and hybrid formats. The term Distance Learning courses refers to both online and hybrid formats. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) define Distance Education as:

"For the purposes of the Commission on College’s accreditation review, distance education is a formal educational process in which the majority of the instruction (interaction between students and instructors and among students) in a course occurs when students and instructors are not in the same place. Instruction may be synchronous or asynchronous. A distance education course may use the internet; one-way and two-way transmissions through open broadcast, closed circuit, cable, microwave, broadband lines, fiber optics, satellite, or wireless communications devices; audio conferencing; or video cassettes, DVD’s, and CD-ROMs if used as part of the distance learning course or program.

Online Courses

An online course is defined as one for which all regularly scheduled face-to-face class meetings are replaced by required learning activities completed at a distance and managed online. Online courses allow students to take courses from geographically remote locations without the need to come to campus.

Hybrid Courses

Hybrid Courses are courses in which a significant portion of the learning activities have been moved online. Time traditionally spent in the classroom is reduced but not eliminated. The goal of hybrid courses is to join the best features of a traditional class with the best features of online learning.

Web-Enhanced Courses

Web-enhanced classes are traditional seated classes that utilize a LMS to post course information. CCC requires that faculty must make their announcements, syllabus, and grade book available in Moodle. Faculty members may choose to utilize Moodle to include handouts, assignments, etc.

Award of Credit

The most significant difference between distance education courses and traditional courses is the method of delivery. Distance educations courses are equivalent to traditional courses in the amount and level of credit awarded to students. The North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS) determines the amount of credit for all Craven Community College courses.