Jade Hopkinson

Posted on Thursday, July 7th, 2016

How did you learn about the dual credit program? Who did you complete your application with?

I was in my math class at the time last semester. My guidance counsellor pulled a couple of students into the hallway and asked if we wanted to do the dual credit course. I didn’t have to change my timetable around. When the guidance counsellor was explaining it, he said, “If you take this now, you don’t take it in college for the first semester.”

Did you attend an orientation session? What did you find most helpful about orientation?

NA

Did you think you were you prepared for the course?

Yes. I think I’m really organized and I hand my work in on time. It wasn’t much harder than a regular English course for me.

Do you think the dual credit was a good fit?

Yes. I like how it is incorporated into our English course. Some of the assignments we would do for college we would also do for English. It wasn’t too much work. The work was hard enough to learn something from it, but not too much to get stressed out about. They complemented each other.

Did you require any accommodations? Were your needs meet?

No

How was transportation?

NA

How comfortable were you with the technology aspect of the course?

It worked well for me. Some people didn’t get their passwords or whatever right away, but for me it was really easy to follow. It had the instructions there, too. Every week it said week 1 or 2 or 3, so it was really easy to follow. You’d just put your assignment in the assignment folder. I was pretty good with technology already.

I didn’t require any IT support. I know some people didn’t get their password and Mrs. Wright would email someone here at the college and ask.

What were the greatest differences between high school and college?

A lot of the assignments we did in the high school English course and college communications course were the same ones, but they were marked a little differently. Generally, it was the same. I knew I was already organized. I had to make sure I did it by the deadline. It’s an online “drop box” and you can’t extend the period. It made me sit down and actually get it done.

She gave us really good deadlines. Every week we would have a journal and it would be due the next week. That was because you had to read and then analyze what you read. Having that week was good because it gave us enough time.

We did a lot of our assignments together with both classes because a lot of the students didn’t know how to balance the two curriculums differently. The teachers would combine them so it would fit both curriculums. I didn’t really notice a huge difference. It didn’t seem much harder. It wasn’t harder, but it was more work.

If you needed to communicate with your College instructor was what the best way?

Both the college instructor and the high school teacher were always on the same page. Mr. Kelly and Mrs. Wright would always mention each other. I think they had a good communication. It was easy to follow.

I had to email her a few times with questions and she would email me right back.

On Blackboard, a couple of months ago she posted a message saying she does stay before and after school if you need help. Some people used the help.

I thought the support was great.

Challenges?

Reading the textbooks was a challenge. They’re long and have bigger words. They were more technical words. I think the chapters were pretty long.

Would you recommend that other students take a dual credit? Why or why not?

I would recommend the dual credit program. I would take another dual credit if I could.

What do you hope to do once you’ve graduated from High School?

It’s kind of far fetched, but I love documentaries, so I kind of want to make a documentary. I am coming to Algonquin for television broadcasting.

Last say/Best advice

Take notes the first time, or even skim some of it. I normally read the headers to know what it’s going to be about. I also read the questions first.

It’s a lot more technical. A good piece of advice is to read the questions before reading any textbook material to help you focus instead of feeling you have to read it all at first. It can be overwhelming and turn people off because it’s too much.

Get really organized. I know that some people in high school especially are not completely organized. I love lists. I like to have something I can check off because it makes me feel accomplished and I can visually see I completed it. I would put the dates after the sentence for due dates and make sure to clear that one before the other projects.

You have to adhere to the deadlines. You have to make sure you’re on time with your work. They don’t wait for you. If you don’t go to class, you get marked absent and absences count on your final grade. You always have to be in class unless you give her a specific reason not to be there. That teaches you to be on time and to come to class.

I would say, even if you were not going to college, take a dual credit course. You can always go back to college. You should never be scared. You should just take the dual credit because it’s always good for the future. You don’t know what you’re going to do now, but if you want to do college down the road, you’ll always have it.

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