Free Supplemental Classes Provide Assistance
Berkeley City College (BCC) provides its students with a wide assortment of subjects to matriculate in for both high school and college credit. The courses include subjects from Astronomy and American Sign Language to Introduction to Biology and English Composition and Reading. Classes, which range from eight weeks (typically for lab oriented science classes) to six weeks, not only provide those who choose to enroll a fast route out of high school classes, but can also be used as credit at a large assortment of colleges. The classes move at an accelerated pace due to the time constraints of fitting a year’s worth of material into a six to eight week program. Although rigorous, these fun and challenging classes are a great way to get credit.
In addition to the faster pace of the curriculum, the variety of students illustrates another breakaway from the high school continuum. Students, typically in classes of forty to fifty, range from “high school kids looking for class credit over the summer, to students from University of California Berkeley trying to finish General Education requirements, to adults attempting to get an associates degree, to those just looking to upgrade their skills in a specific area,” stated Shirley Fogarino, a public information officer at BCC. The cornucopia of diversity is able to attract a large student following over the summer; consistently all classes have filled up year after year. Applications are now out, and classes will begin starting June 18.
In combination with local summer courses, the BCC also provides a host of alternative academic activities. One of the most popular is the study abroad program during the summer; this year it is taking students to Cuba for international studies. Besides the travel abroad program many clubs at BCC further broaden students knowledge. One such club is the activist organization, the Global Studies Club, which strives to provide students with a better understanding of other cultures. The wide variety of activities at BCC illustrates the host of opportunity open to high school students this upcoming summer.
For those not interested in traditional summer courses, iTunes University (iTunes U) may prove a better fit. The recently released application gives students the chance to “join a large and growing community of schools and institutions that are sharing their content… incudes Stanford, Yale, Oxford, and UC Berkeley,” according to the site of the app. The online courses feature over 500,000 learning resources in the form of lectures, videos, and books. Not only does the app provide college materials, but also some from world-renowned institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art and the New York Public Library. With the mass of information available from a large array of institutions, iTunes U provides a viable alternative to summer courses.
An added plus of the app is its accessibility and organized structure. With thousands of courses readily available at the touch a finger, students need not move from their beds to learn. App users are also able to learn at their own pace and construct a unique course schedule. This schedule is tightly structured. The courses are organized into a virtual three ring binder with descriptions of all lectures and videos, all of which are divided into specific sections.
While studying content, notes, annotations, and study cards can be readily stored in tab binders for easy access at a later date; no longer will there be any lost school–related paraphernalia. For the tech savvy high school generation, iTunes U is certainly a solid option to learn new material.
The many options for summer academia during the summer offer endless opportunities. With an abundance of chances to continue education, learning doesn’t ever have to stop.
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