For Students Preparing to Enroll for Spring 2021 Classes at Reedley College

Oct 12, 2020 —

Welcome to Reedley!

We are excited about your enrollment in classes at Reedley College in the spring 2021 semester. We are happy you’ve chosen Reedley as the place to start, continue, or resume your higher education journey. We have a dedicated team of professionals (faculty, counselors, staff, tutors, and peers) eager to help you reach your educational goals.

The purpose of this communication is to provide additional information about the course listings for spring 2021 that will appear in the college’s official schedule in WebAdvisor. With so many more online course offerings, it is not always clear in WebAdvisor what the format of each class will be. To help, this letter contains some tips for understanding the WebAdvisor listings. In addition, this letter contains the link to a “translator” that will provide more information about the format of each class. Use of the translator in conjunction with WebAdvisor will help ensure that you know exactly what you’re signing up for before you enroll.

Possible formats for Reedley College classes, Spring 2021

Fully In-Person

Reedley will continue to offer some on-campus, face-to-face courses in the spring 2021 semester. These are classes with content (such as skills practice or hands on activities) that would be very difficult to master in the online environment (examples include Automotive Technology, Wildland Fire, Welding and Animal Science, among others). These courses have regular meeting days and times on campus that you will be expected to attend. An example of a WebAdvisor listing for such a class is below:

This listing for AS-5 (Animal Nutrition), section #56323 indicates here that

• the class begins the week of January 11, 2021 and continues through the week of May 21, 2021;
• the Lecture portion of the class meets on Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:00 to 3:50pm;
• the class meets in the “Forum” Building in Room 10;
• importantly, the column contains the notation “(more)” which indicates that you can get more schedule information about the class by clicking here.

When you do so, page two of the class listing pops up:

This page contains more information about the class section, indicating that there is a lab for this class that meets Wednesdays from 12:00 to 2:50pm in the Forum Building in Room 10. This second page also contains the course catalog description and the instructor’s email contact information. If any special supplies were required, they would also be listed on this page. It is good practice to click on the link to access page two for any class in which you are interested.

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Fully Online

Due to COVID-19, the majority of RC’s offerings in spring 2021 will remain online. There are two models of delivery for fully online courses, described as asynchronous and synchronous. These terms are defined as follows:

• Asynchronous - Online learning includes self-guided lesson modules, streaming video content, virtual libraries, posted lecture notes, exchange across discussion boards, or social media platforms. Zoom meetings may occur, but they are optional and will typically be recorded for later viewing if you cannot attend those meetings.
• Synchronous - Online learning includes video conferencing, Zoom meetings, teleconferencing, live chatting, and live streaming lectures. There is a portion of the class that requires you to access Zoom (or another conferencing application) at a given time on certain days to meet with your instructor and/or your classmates.

An example of a WebAdvisor listing for an asynchronous, fully-online course appears below

Those fully online courses that are asynchronous (like Spanish 1, section number 52659 above) do not list any meeting days or times here because no meetings are required. For such classes, the meeting location is specified as “Room WEB.” To repeat, even though the circled language suggests that lecture days and times are “to be Announced,” if there are no meeting days and times listed on page one of a course listing in WebAdvisor, students in this course will not be required to meet all together on certain days and times. (Note: the instructor of an asynchronous class might still want to meet with you via Zoom during the semester, but any meeting days and times would be negotiated with you [or a group of students including you] at a day and time that is acceptable to you.)

An example of a synchronous online class listing in WebAdvisor is below:

This listing for POLSCI-2 (American Government), section # 54745 indicates here that:

• the class begins the week of January 11, 2021 and continues through the week of May 21, 2021;
• there will be “Simultaneous Internet” meetings on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:00 to 9:50am;
• the class meets via Zoom, as indicated by the “Room ZOOM” designations;
• importantly, “(more)” appears here which indicates that you should click here to get more information;
• in the “SPECIAL COMMENTS” column, the phrase “Synchronous Zoom Meetings” appears, indicating that synchronous meetings via Zoom are a required part of this class.

When you click to get more information, page two of this course listing contains the phrase “Students will meet weekly by synchronous Zoom instruction” confirming that synchronous meetings are required.

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Hybrid

Hybrid courses have a combination of online and in-person instruction. An example of a WebAdvisor listing for such a course appears below

This listing for ASTRO-10 (Introductory Astronomy), section # 55062 indicates here that

• the class begins the week of January 11, 2021 and continues through the week of May 21, 2021;
• importantly, the notation “(more)” indicates that you should click here to get more information (again, it is a good idea to click to get more information for any class you are considering);
• the class is described as having both in-person and online components by the appearance of the term “HYBRID” here.

When you click to reach page two of this listing, under “IMPORTANT CLASS NOTES***” it indicates that the class is a blend of both traditional classroom instruction and online learning activities. The meeting day and times for the in-person portion of the class (lab) is on Wednesday from 1:30 to 3:20 pm, in the Physical Science Building, in Room 70. If you have any questions about the format of the class, the instructor contact information is also provided on page two.

This message contains examples of the most common types of class listings from WebAdvisor for spring 2021. There are other classes with special arrangements that also appear in WebAdvisor. The best practice for determining exactly what will be expected of you, the student, for meetings is to click on the link that leads to page two of each listing. In most cases, there is enough information there to provide clarity about the meeting days and times (if any) for each class. If you are still confused, the instructor’s contact information will also appear on page two and you can email the instructor for more information.

You can also view the Reedley College Class Search tool Search for any open class section by subject or section number. Once you search for and find the class, more information (in plain English) will appear about the class format, meeting times (if any), and other requirements that will allow you to make an informed decision about the class before you enroll.