By David Fear

For years now, you’ve been wanting to sally forth once more into the fray of higher education, but with a family to feed, a boss to keep off your back, and physics’ damned finite-amount-of-time-and-space-continuum rule, how can you find the time and energy to do it? Or, maybe you’re just starting out your college career, and you’re not sure whether a summer job will finance your Ivy League future just yet. Add in the inevitable commute-hours traffic nightmare and the parking crunch inherent in attending a decent night school program on a college campus, and the reasons to put off those computer classes or to get cracking on that extra degree just keep multiplying.

Here’s the good news, people: You’ve made it to the 21st century. And, lucky for you, so has the staff of San Francisco City College, one of a handful of California community college campuses that now institute both online and telecourse programs designed to help YOU fulfill your lofty educational dreams.

“Basically, anyone who’s looking to continue their college career can do so pretty much at their convenience and leisure now without having the burden of physically being in the classroom,” states Janet Willett, S.F. City College’s Coordinator of Technology-Mediated Instruction. “The courses we’re offering are specifically aimed at self-motivated people who may not be able to get into the city on a regular basis because they have conflicting schedules…these classes offer the flexibility of higher education on your own time.”

Here’s the 411: SFCC’s telecourse program, going into its 17th successful year as a model for distance learning modes of education, has found one way to serve students who can’t make it to the classroom—it brings the classroom to them. Course lessons are broadcast on San Francisco’s Channel 27 (unavailable outside of the city’s limits for the time being, unfortunately), and are available for viewing anytime at the college’s Phelan Campus Media Center. With the exception of two classes, tapes of the lessons can be rented from RMI Media Productions over the Web or by phone, then shipped to your residence (information can be found at www.rmimedia.com). Watch the televised or taped lectures and voila, your living room is transformed into a one-man think tank!
The online curriculum, which is a relatively new program that Ms. Willett helped to initiate three years ago, also allows students to take credit and degree-applicable classes via the Web. Students can sign up for courses and get lessons and assignments online at the college’s website, provided the criteria for any classes requiring prerequisites or co-requisites have been met. You also need to e-mail your professor after “e-registering” to ensure you’re in; once you’ve dotted your I’s and crossed your T’s, however, your laptop is your lecture hall.

Before you go rushing towards your laptop or start switching on the apparatus formerly known as “the idiot box,” be aware that the same rules of traditional schooling still apply. Students new to City College need to sign up as a student. You will be required to attend an on-campus orientation, and to show up in person for your course midterms and finals (they are scheduled on weeknights and Saturdays to accommodate us working stiffs). Homework assignments and textbook reading are still required as a supplement to the lectures. Online classes tend to fill up just as quickly as regular classes, meaning you may still need to fight to get into courses.

And don’t think instant scholardom is merely a few hours of passive TV viewing or Web surfing. Willett and Martha Lucey, the Director of Public Information at City College, are quick to point out that both programs are geared towards those students who are extremely self-motivated and serious about taking their education into their own hands.

The advantages of SFCC’s online and telecourse curriculums, however, are plentiful. This year City College is offering 17 courses through their broadcast media and 21 courses are available online, making it one of the Bay Area’s largest and most diverse post-classroom programs around. Classes range from Computer Science to Foreign Language studies to a variety of History classes, and the promise of a Mathematics program looms on the horizon. Students can work towards a general education degree or further their knowledge of subjects on their own time without having to give up their life. Those students new to the collegiate arena should also be aware that both California state colleges and the U.C. system honor a transfer program that extends to these programs.