Students are looking for flexible learning options. The growth of distance learning at Western Technical College meets the needs of traditional students, the non-traditional working adult market, as well as students looking for transfer credit opportunities as either a full or part-time student. In this session you will have an opportunity to access, via your own personal devices, the training and resources that Western Technical College has created to prepare both students and faculty for online, blended, and hybrid teaching and learning. It is a testament to the quality of our existing online student preparedness efforts and online instruction, that current pass rates for Western’s distance education courses nearly mirror those for traditional course offerings. As an institution that serves 11 counties in our district, many of them in rural areas, we will also discuss how we continue to work towards meeting the needs of our students at a distance.
Western Technical College has a significant amount of students that are balancing school, work, and families. We also serve a population of students across a vast district of 11 counties and many of these areas have significant deficiencies in access to reliable broadband service. Regardless of the barriers that exist, we continue to innovate and collaborate on ways to serve every student every day. We are an open enrollment college, meaning we accept everyone who applies. But, we strive to be more than just accessible, more than just a back-up plan. Our vision is to be the college of first choice in our region. We offer a variety of services to help students thrive. From helpful tutors, accessible instructors, and knowledgeable advisors, to comfortable study spaces, convenient regional locations, and opportunities to engage with our communities through service-learning projects – we create critical connections that promote success.
Every one of our programs at Western Technical College has an advisory committee of local industry professionals to make sure our training matches the skills required in the real world. That’s why 94 percent of our graduates are employed within six months of graduation. As a technical college, we are uniquely positioned to be responsive to the needs around us. And because Western is ranked in the top three percent of technical colleges nationwide, we have proven we can do it better.