Aiken Technical College offers a number of classes in a variety of online formats from completion of degrees entirely online to using online resources to supplement traditional classes.
Online Courses
Online students participate in courses through the internet either with their home computers or with computers in labs on the ATC campus at times most convenient to their schedules. Courses usually begin during the first week of the term and end during the last week of the term. Assignments are due periodically, just as they are in traditional courses. While online courses require no on-campus meetings, attendance policies are strictly followed and students are required to take proctored exams in the ATC Test Center.
Hybrid Courses
Hybrid courses combine classroom instruction with the features of online courses. Students usually complete 50 percent of their course work via face-to-face course meetings and 50 percent online using the internet.
Web Enhanced Courses
Many instructors teaching traditional face-to-face courses supplement them by using the College Course Management System (Blackboard) or web pages to make additional materials available to students outside of class via the internet. The course itself is delivered in a traditional face-to-face meeting time or number of meetings.
Online Degrees
Aiken Technical College offers the option to complete the Associate of Arts degree entirely online! Click on the degree title below for a complete list of course requirements.
Regular & Substantive Interaction Statement for Online ATC Courses:
In order to promote regular and substantive interaction between the faculty and online students of Aiken Technical College, ATC requires at least one substantial online assignment per week. The instructor will initiate weekly formative interaction via methods such as, but not limited to, synchronous learning sessions, comments in online discussion boards, summative overviews of assignment/exam results, and/or detailed responses to specific elements of assignments.
Following Department of Education recommendations, ATC’s faculty recognize that computer-generated feedback, contact with mentoring staff, and recorded webinars, videos, and reading materials (unless the students then interact with their instructor concerning these materials) do not count as regular and substantive interaction. Regular and substantive interaction is ensured via annual supervisor reviews of online courses and targeted questions addressed through each term’s Student Assessment of Instruction.
Identity Verification:
Aiken Technical College issues each student a unique Student Identification Number once a student has applied to the College. These student identification numbers become part of the unique identifier for all students throughout their enrollment at the college. A distinct user name and secure password are required to access the learning management system (LMS). The LMS is a secure virtual learning environment where faculty members supplement or facilitate traditional, online and hybrid courses. ATC’s present LMS’s (Blackboard) privacy statement can be found at: https://help.blackboard.com/Privacy_Statement. The password-protected LMS ensures privacy of individual students’ records such as grades and attendance. Students accept responsibility for the security of their personal passwords and off-campus access requires multifactor identification. Online students are additionally required to complete a proctored final exam to further confirm their identities.
Aiken Technical College is an approved member of the National Council of State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA). As an NC-SARA member, ATC adheres to an established set of standards for offering distance learning among NC-SARA member states, districts and territories.
Proctored Online Final Exams:
All ATC online courses require a proctored final exam. Online proctoring is carried out via an online proctoring service accessed via the College's Online Learning Management System. Any required on-campus proctoring is free, but alternate proctoring sites might require a fee. Students are responsible for any related off-site proctoring fees and must complete the off-site proctor verification process via the linked form:
Off Site Proctor Request Form
Security of Online Student Information:
Aiken Technical College protects the privacy of all students, including distance education students, through strict adherence to the rules of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) and the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB Act). The official FERPA statement is located under “Release of Student Information” under School Policies and GLB Act information can be found on the Code of Federal Regulations.