“Valdosta Tech has always been a haven for people who want to improve their job skills and get a leg up in what they are currently doing,” Dorminey said. “Many of our students have a lot of other commitments. They have families. They have jobs, so the online atmosphere gives them 24/7 access to online learning anytime, anywhere.”

Online courses meet almost exclusively online, but students can be required to meet on campus for orientation programs at the beginning of the course, Sizemore said.

Dorminey and Christi Robertson, Valdosta Technical College instructional technical specialist, encourage students who do not have much experience with the Internet and computers to get help and maybe take a hybrid course first.

“For many, it’s just like a calculator to them. It’s a regular part of their lives, and so they expect to use that for learning,” Dorminey said. “But I work with students every day who have trouble with some of the basic things. Technology, for some, might be a stumbling block.”

Hybrid classes were started at Valdosta Technical College in 2007.

Over the 10-week period of a the quarter system, five-hour hybrid courses may meet for two hours face-to-face and have three hours of work online, Dorminey said.

There are currently 645 students enrolled in hybrid courses.

“The students and teachers like it because they still get the interaction with the teacher in a face-to-face setting, but they have the advantage of the anytime, anywhere aspect of online learning,” Dorminey said.

But some students, Dorminey said, may need that positive reinforcement found in a classroom.

“Even though they like the idea of not going to class every day and not meeting with the instructor, what some students really need is a lot of pats on the back and encouragement,” Dorminey said. “Our online students have that, but it is often through an email, and sometimes that is not enough for some people.”

The university also has hybrid classes for students, Sizemore said.

Incoming freshmen will have fewer problems adapting to the online work, Sizemore said.

“As online applications, like MySpace and Facebook, become more and more popular, the students that are coming into the institution already expect to work in online environments and are very comfortable with that,” Sizemore said.

The university’s online courses are hosted in a course management system called Blackboard Vista, which is also used with lecture classes and hybrid courses.

This past year the university hit a milestone with its course management system. One hundred percent of the student body is now using the online system in all three types of class settings offered.