Distance Education at Angeles College

Participating in Distance Learning Education learning allows you to take accredited Angeles College courses from home or any other convenient location. This is ideal for those with demanding work schedules, family responsibilities, and those who cannot travel to campus for various reasons such as lack of reliable transportation, scheduling conflicts, or physical challenges. Most importantly, Distance Education learning courses give students greater flexibility and students often find that they have greater control over the learning process. With that flexibility, students can customize their course time and work in a way that best suits their specific schedule.

Currently, our primary Distance Education programs offered at Angeles College is the BSN Completion (RN-BSN) Program.

Are you Ready for Distance Education?

There are many advantages and disadvantages which students should be aware of before selecting a distance course.

Advantages

  • Students can work on their own time rather than go to class at a particular time.
  • Your travel times and expenses are greatly reduced.
  • Students who prefer written communication may do better in distance learning courses.
  • Lastly, students may get to know the faculty and other students on a deeper level in an online course.

Disadvantages

Here are some disadvantages:

  • Often students report missing the face-to-face interactions with fellow students and instructors.
  • Taking distance education classes requires more discipline and self-motivation.
  • Third, students who are poor typists or who are lacking in technical skills may be at a disadvantage.
  • Distance learning courses may actually take more time than a traditional course.
  • Students may experience occasional difficulty in reaching other classmates and/or instructors on a short notice.

Is Distance Learning Education Right for You?

You should take the following assessment tests to see if Distance Education is right for you:

ToOLS Self-Assessment Test

Take the Test of Online Learning Success (ToOLS)* self-assessment.

* The ToOLS (Test of Online Learning Success) self-assessment test was created by Dr. Marcel S. Kerr and Dr. Marcus C. Kerr of Texas Wesleyan University, and Dr. Kimberly Rynearson of Tarleton State University.

SmarterMeasure Assessment Test

Take the SmarterMeasure assessment test. To access SmarterMeasure, click on this link: https://ac.readi.info (Username – angelescollege) (Password – angelesonline).

  1. It will take you about 45 minutes from start to finish but you may log out and complete it later if necessary.
  2. After you login, you will receive an email from SmarterMeasure with a PIN number.
  3. Use that PIN number to log back in later or view your results again.

Once completed, you will receive a report immediately for all the areas of the SmarterMeasure assessment. Furthermore, the site also provides some remedial tools to help you strengthen your weaknesses.

Important note: Your SmarterMeasure score will not prevent you from registering for online classes. 

Save the results of your competency assessments and include them during the admissions qualification process.

Delivery Methods

Angeles College offers several options in its Distance Learning program: Internet, hybrid, and teleclass. These courses are equal to other courses in credit hours, academic rigor, and student requirements.

Internet Courses

Internet courses give students access to their courses 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Instructor uploads all materials, course activities, assignments, and discussions to our online learning platform. At Angeles College, all online courses are asynchronous;  you do your coursework at whatever time of the day you choose. The majority of tests are taken online, although some instructors require that tests be taken on campus. You should expect to devote the same amount of time each week as you would for a face-to-face course.

Hybrid Courses

Hybrid courses blend traditional classroom instruction with online distance education. Students meet on campus for lectures or presentations one class period a week and complete the rest of their course work independently. Ultimately, the goal of hybrid courses is to join the best features of in-class teaching with the best features of online learning.

Getting Started in Angeles College’s Distance Education Programs

Angeles College’s Distance Education Program’s coursework is hosted on Canvas. Canvas LMS is a provider of eLearning solutions which includes numerous types of media that deliver text, audio, images, animation, and streaming videos. Lastly, students and instructors can include links to podcasts or streaming video for presentations, assignments, or discussion threads.

To access Canvas, navigate to https://www.angelescollege.instructure.com.

Alternately, access Canvas through your email notifications.

  1. Login to Canvas.
  2. Once you log in, you can locate your courses in Canvas home page after login under your My Course pull down side bar menu. Your courses are available on the day your course is scheduled to start. If you are unable to locate your courses after log-in, contact the Office of the Registrar.
  3. After accessing your courses in Canvas, read your instructor’s welcome message and follow their instructions. Explore the Canvas interface to make yourself familiar with the Canvas layout.

Once the course begins, questions about coursework and assignments should be directed to your instructor. For technical issues, contact the school’s IT department or Canvas support.

Technical Requirements

Students must have regular access to a personal computer with a Web camera, microphone, and speaker system.

To learn about the minimal system requirements for Canvas, see: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Basics-Guide/What-are-the-browser-and-computer-requirements-for-Canvas/ta-p/66

In addition, students should have one or more of the following to submit assignments and view class content: MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.), Google Suite (Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc.), or OpenOffice/LibreOffice (Writer, Calc, Impress. etc.).

The successful online student should be familiar with the following computer operating procedures (Technical Competencies):

  • Start, shut down, and reboot a computer appropriately.
  • Use a keyboard and mouse with accuracy and efficiency.
  • Have access to the Internet.
  • Access URLs (web addresses) on the Internet.
  • Use online search tools/engines to locate materials on the web.
  • Navigate forward and backward on web sites with links, frames, image maps, and other elements of website design.
  • Troubleshoot a broken URL or link.
  • Recognize when a “plug-in” is needed to view a particular web page element or file format.
  • Be able to print pages in the programs
  • Send, receive, reply to, and forward email.
  • Upload and download email attachments.
  • Copy and paste text across documents and software applications.
  • Save a document or other file to a particular location and/or in a particular format (doc/docx/pdf).
  • Find a file or document previously saved using computer file management systems.