As the students of Fresno City College become more digital, the Distance Education Committee (DEC) at FCC is looking to change the way it assists students. First, however, the committee wants to get students’ input.

Beginning this week, the Distance Education Committee is going to be launching a campus-wide student survey which will be sent to the students’ school email, explained Lynn Badertscher, DEC member.

The survey will also gather information on success rates of students taking online classes and what students like or dislike about the present online and hybrid classes and other online tools available to help students.

“We want to ask students what needs to be improved and how we can help,” said Badertscher. The survey is only two to three minutes long, and is completely anonymous. It will address areas such as what kind of social media students use and what classes they would like to see taught online.

“The purposes of the survey are to see the computer usage levels of students at FCC, and how DEC can offer more technology based courses,” said Karla Kirk, Chair of the DEC. “We are hoping that with this survey we can expand the courses that are being offered to students.”

By taking the survey, students will provide feedback as well as their opinions on what services they would like to be offered online. “We will like to see changes,” stated Badertscher.

“Introduction courses would be great classes to be offered online,” said Kirk.

The survey will not only help the students, but staff as well in the way they updates their communication with students.

“After this survey has been conducted, with the results, we will form another survey that will be given to faculty, and see how the student and faculty perceptions clash,” said Don Lopez, Director of Technology. With the results of both surveys, DEC can recommend new online classes.

“We want to offer more classes general education classes that students are wanting to take,” Lopez said.

This survey is not only limited to starting new classes. It will also help the committee to know what the needs of online students are. The survey will offer students the opportunity to explain how often their instructors are using Blackboard, or if they even use Blackboard as an essential communication base with students.

“It is important to know what devices students are using to access their emails, Blackboard and WebAdvisor which will help instructors know how much information to put online and how easy it is to read,” Badertscher said.

The survey results will also help determine other needs that students may have, including online tutoring services and other resources they would like. Students can plan on seeing changes as early as next fall or in the spring of 2013.

“The importance of it [survey] is so students’ voices can be heard,” said Badertscher.

The Distance Education committee consists of faculty, student representatives, staff, and administrators and helps students enrolled in online or hybrid classes. Badertscher said a part of the committee’s concern is keeping up with technological developments to make sure students’ needs are met.