Samuel Jones

Posted on Thursday, July 7th, 2016

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

I was interested in a wide variety of areas of study. A dual credit gives you a good an idea of what you may want to do in the future. It is good on my transcript this early on in my education.

Catherine, my co-op teacher, assisted me with my application. She played an integral role with my dual credit program.

Samuel Jones

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

Yes, I attended my first orientation. It was helpful but over-saturated. It could be cleaned up, and it’s a bit irrelevant. I feel like orientation should not just be every dual credit student in the same room. There was information presented to me as a culinary student that was irrelevant and a waste of my time. Introducing students to Blackboard could be more cleaned and refined. A lot of problems with the Internet were arising. It felt a little bit ill conceived. Instead of handing out laptops to students, taking students to a computer lab would’ve been way more efficient and professional. Student to student, there is nothing better for them than to think the school knows a lot about what they’re doing. It is a comforting thing to you as a student.

Would you find it helpful if a former DC did a workshop at orientation?

I think that would probably be quite helpful, assuming that student has a clean track record and is a good role model. If the professor deems them to be a student worth following, it would be helpful.

Did you think you were you prepared for the course?

I felt prepared for the course, but I am not afraid to do a lot of legwork myself. Some students might have some trouble. That’s not necessarily dual credit’s fault. But it expects too much from some students and they need to raise the calibre of student that is allowed to take the program.

Do you think the dual credit was a good fit?

First course, Culinary Fundamentals: It’s a hobby of mine that I had for a very long time. I considered it as a career. I took a course to see if it matched my expectations. I still got a credit. I decided it isn’t, so I was satisfied in that way. Dual credit did its job in that way. The course was spot on in terms of materials.

Second course, Ethics: Certainly this course was a good fit for me. As a course in general, it’s a subject of interest of me, especially as someone who plans on studying the social sciences. This is definitely something that’s beneficial for me.

Did you require any accommodations? Were your needs meet?

I have an IEP (Individual Education Plan) but decided not to share it. I figured I did not need to use a disability to make my life easier.

How was transportation?

I live about a kilometre walk away. I walk everyday. Transportation was not a concern.

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

I am pretty good with technology, but Blackboard always needs improvement.

Recently, my teacher couldn’t load a midterm exam and it had to be pushed 30 minutes because it wouldn’t load. Those kinds of glitches can slow down a class, even though it’s a useful tool.

What were the greatest differences between high school and college?

College and high school are not too different. Assessments are pretty on par with what I’m used to with a few variations here or there, but nothing that shocked me.

Do you feel well informed about postsecondary and how it relates to dual credit?

Maybe it informed me in an Algonquin-centered way. Algonquin is not necessarily my postsecondary school of choice, but it might be. I’d say it definitely gives me a clearer idea of the kind of schedules I’ll be looking at, the kind of environment, and the kind of expectations in postsecondary education.

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

In general, the easiest way was and still is to just talk to the college instructor. I would go to the class and talk her if I had a problem. Email is a secondary option for me always.

Challenges?

My challenge was showing up, actually. This was more with the culinary course because it was four hours, starting at 2 p.m. and ending at 6 p.m. After a school and with a part time job, it was pretty ridiculous sometimes. Showing up was a little challenging for that course.

For ethics, the biggest challenge is the material itself. Doing well in the class is hard, and it should be hard, and I’m glad that it is. It’s how fast everything happens. The content in itself is complex but doable, but the time crunch is demanding and challenging.

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

I wouldn’t say that I highly recommend a dual credit to a lot of students. I’d say I recommend it to a student that is serious about trying some things and getting to know him or herself academically.

It’s a good challenge to take on, but it’s probably detrimental if you have a schedule where school is hard to fit things into. For myself, it worked out fine.

My school environment is an alternative school. I went to Canterbury for the dramatic arts previously.

It’s nice to go to a regular class and learn with other students. Alternative school lacks that. I think dual credit should reach out to alternative programs more, especially considering alternative schools mainly have adults interested in postsecondary. There might be some who struggle, but overall it would be a positive.

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

My main thing after high school is to work at a scholarship at Charles University in Prague. I want to take their three-year English and Humanities there. I looked up different universities abroad with tuition rates that felt easy to deal with for me and settled on that one.

Last Say/Best advice

Best advice – don’t worry about what anyone else is doing. Take full advantage of the dual credit program. There will be people who take it for granted, but don’t let that fool you. It’s a good opportunity. If you’re doing this program, you should give it as much as you can. At the end, if you didn’t enjoy it, it doesn’t matter. But it’s good to have.

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