Salt Lake Community College Is Recognized As One Of The Top Online Learning Schools In The Country

Salt Lake City UT

21 January, 2022

5:53 PM

Description

Press release from Salt Lake Community College: January 20, 2022 Newsweek recently recognized Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) as one of the country's best online learning schools for 2022. "We're proud that we were selected from among thousands of schools for this first-tier recognition," says Gavin Harper, PhD, director of SLCC's Online, eLearning and Competency-Based Education. "It reflects the efforts of our robust team of design and teaching experts, who strive to create courses that are engaging and meet high academic standards," Gavin says. Newsweek worked with a data company and surveyed more than 9,000 students in the United States to develop a list of the top 150 schools that provide stellar online learning. SLCC rated 118, and the University of Utah ranked 109. Nearly 80% of U.S. colleges offered either standalone courses or online degree programs as of 2019 (the most recent available data), according to the U.S. Department of Education. Pushed into prevalence by the pandemic, online classes are now more common than ever throughout higher education. At SLCC, nearly 10,000 students participate in online courses each semester throughout Utah and the country. Many of the college's students take a hybrid of in-person and online classes. The number has jumped from an average of students taking one to two online courses each semester to two or three courses in spring, 2022. "I like having the option of taking both online and in-person classes. For classes I struggle with, like math, I want to be in the classroom," says Bailey Jacquet, who is studying psychology. "I am that student who talks to the math teacher the most." Jacquet's spring semester includes two online courses and two in-person classes. "The online classes allow me to add very specific structure to my life, and it is structure over which I have some control," says Jacquet, who works two jobs and is a full-time student. This press release was produced by Salt Lake Community College. The views expressed here are the author's own.