Monthlong classes incentive for students

Rebecca Malone

Friday, July 27, 2001 | 4:08 a.m.

A new way of learning will be available when the Green Valley High Tech Center opens to students in September.

This Community College of Southern Nevada program is the first of its kind for Clark County. It boasts a new approach to earning a degree. All courses are four weeks only, so that students with harried schedules and transient personal lives will be more able to finish what they start.

"Students in today's world are not geared toward the semester-long classes," said professor Ruell Fiant, Faculty Senate president, who studied results of four-week programs and helped develop this one.

"Especially in Las Vegas, by the time the 16-week semester has run out, they have changed jobs that can cause situations where they drop out. They need the immediate satisfaction of completion."

Fiant compared the numbers of students signing up for classes with the number finishing. He did this for regular semester classes and for classes that offered an accelerated four-week course.

He said he found that regular courses had an average retention rate of 60 percent while accelerated courses had retention rates of 85 to 100 percent. There was also high retention of course material and re-enrollment in similar concentrated courses, Fiant said.

Students at the Green Valley High Tech Center will sign up for a single course, for three credits. They will be able to complete one course a month.

"There are a lot of options in our program to get in and get out quick, or they can stay for the long haul," said Dr. Ron Meek, provost of CCSN's Henderson Campus and administrator for the new Tech Center.

The center will be located on the northeast corner of Warm Springs Road and Arroyo Grande Boulevard, adjacent to Green Valley High School. CCSN owns the building, but it is on Clark County School District property.

The college and school district will share the building. The school district will use it until 2 p.m., and CCSN will use it for evening classes.

The classes are set for Monday through Friday from 6 to 8:50 p.m., giving students 40-45 hours of actual class and instructor time.

"You have to have the same commitment to the particular class, nothing is any easier. It is just going to be quicker and more concentrated," Meek said. "This program is important for those people who can't make the 16-week commitment because of families or jobs."

The program targets middle-aged people who have a job and family and are looking to acquire particular skills to enhance their abilities at work without the long commitment, Meek said. He pointed to specific possibilities such as a person who can only spare a month of family time for a class or the person who only needs one class to further his career.

Courses are open to all students who wish to enroll and who have completed the one-time admission form for the community college.

Anyone wishing to learn more about the program may call 643-7026 or visit online (www.admrec.ccsn.nevada.edu).