Honors program goes online at CLC
The first ever online course for Central Lakes College’s Honors Program is now being offered to students. The course, Intercultural Communication, will be followed next school year with another online honors course called Interpersonal Communication.
“Online courses work best for a lot of students, including some in our technical programs, so we wanted to make sure these students had access to our Honors Program,” said Adam Marcotte, English instructor and Honors Program coordinator.
Previously, honors courses were only offered in face-to-face class settings.
Kari Frisch, Intercultural Communication instructor, added, “We have many students who take classes online each semester. There are many reasons why. Some do it for flexibility with their schedules and others do it because it is the only option for them as a working parent or student who lives too far from campus to make it on a regular basis. So being able to have students access honors courses online offers them the same privileges we do our traditional face to face students.”
Intercultural Communication is designed to help students learn about their own cultural identities, recognize cultural differences, identify barriers, adjust their communication, and build successful relationships to help them better succeed in their professional and personal lives. The students in the honors section of this class delve a little more deeply into the concepts with more discussions, additional readings and more personal assessments.
Frisch is not new to online teaching. She has been honing her craft for over a decade and has spent the last several years teaching completely online. This step to online honors courses is a natural one. Frisch has won several state and national awards for her work in online instruction, and continues to develop the best practices of online classes even further at CLC.
Why Honors Intercultural Communication online? Students weigh in:
“Because I want to continue my education, I have chosen to finish my AA through the honors program, as it looks better on a transcript. I chose Honors Intercultural Communication Class because culture is a big topic of interest of mine. I also believed that a class like this would benefit more in my role as a nurse in comparison to the other classes offered.” - CLC student Diana Espana.
“I signed up for Honors Intercultural Communication for several reasons, but most importantly is that I believe deeply that the more knowledge and respect we as a society begin to cultivate for one another--as individuals and across various groups--the more we will grow in a positive direction. I saw this class is an opportunity for me to learn about this phenomenon in an academic setting, where I will hopefully grow as a scholar and as a participant in the world community.” - CLC student Devon Charlier.
