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Dual-credit courses give IU distance students added incentive for college
Oct. 31, 2001
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. --When he was a student in a traditional public high school in Columbus, Ind., National Merit Scholar semi-finalist Luke Winikates wanted more challenges, including the opportunity to take as many introductory-level college courses as possible.
Today, Winikates is a senior at Indiana University High School, a distance learning high school without any bricks and mortar. He has taken 14 dual-credit courses, many at IU campuses in Bloomington and Columbus, and others through the Indiana University Independent Study Program (ISP).
Available entirely at a distance to high school and home-schooled students nationwide, the ISP dual-credit program allows high schoolers to take introductory-level university courses and earn both high school and university credit for them.
"The IU Independent Study Program offers 62 dual-credit courses," says Lisa Bidwell, ISP manager of instructional development and design. "The courses include introductory university courses that do not have any prerequisites." She said courses are in such areas as anthropology, astronomy, biology, business, communication and culture, English, fine arts, geology, health, history, mathematics, music, political science, foreign languages and sociology.
The courses are developed and taught by departmentally approved IU instructors and faculty. "Dual-credit faculty hold both their high school and undergraduate students to the same performance standards," says ISP University Faculty Coordinator Paul Bickley. "As a result, high school students taking these courses get a good idea of what to expect from future college work."
Being held to college-level standards has been a real plus for Winikates, who believes his dual-credit courses have helped prepare him for college. "The college courses are more difficult because they require more critical thinking. When I go away to college, I won't have the stress of making the transition between high school course work and college course work," he said.
Dual-credit courses offer numerous other advantages, says Larry Onesti, director of the Independent Study Program. "They challenge and engage students who might otherwise succumb to 'senioritis' and slack off during their final high school semesters. They give students the opportunity to explore subject areas in which they might like to major at the university level. And last, but not least, they save parents money both in terms of tuition and room and board, since students who enter college with college credits already under their belt graduate sooner than students who need to complete a full four-year curriculum."
Most colleges accept the undergraduate credit students earn for taking IU dual-credit courses, but students are advised to check with the college of their choice to make sure.
Winikates is considering six different universities. Now in his third semester of dual-credit Japanese courses, he plans to major in East Asian language and literature and one other field. "I have very much enjoyed taking dual-credit classes. I've been pleased to experience this level of challenge," he said.
For more information, contact the Independent Study Program at 800-334-1011 or by e-mail at scs@indiana.edu, or by visiting the Web site http://scs.indiana.edu.
(Lisa Denlinger, 812-855-1656 or ldenling@indiana.edu)