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Overview
Host-Provider Model
Benefits to Students
Colleges' Participation in VCT
List
of colleges participating as Host colleges in VCT
Overview
The Virtual College of Texas is a collaborative of all Texas public
two-year colleges. It was created by the Texas Association of Community
Colleges to facilitate sharing of distance learning courses among
member colleges. CEO's of VCT member colleges developed the host-provider
model upon which VCT operations rest and defined the principles of
VCT's organization and management.
A three-year pilot project was launched in the fall semester of 1998.
Concluding a successful pilot, VCT was established as an ongoing service
beginning with the 2001 fall semester. As of spring 2006, there have
been approximately 34,800 enrollments in courses listed in the VCT
online schedule by VCT member colleges.
Host-Provider Model
Member institutions of
the Virtual College of Texas share distance learning courses under
the terms of a statewide VCT Memorandum of Understanding, which is
based upon an operational model referred to as the Host-Provider Model.
The host (local) college:
- Enrolls students locally
to take courses from other (provider) colleges
- Provides VCT-enrolled
students with the same slate of student services it provides its
other students
- Administers tests as
directed by provider colleges' instructors
- Awards course credit
- Includes the courses
on its own transcripts
The provider (remote)
college:
- Provides instructors
who define course content and instructional methodologies; directs
all class activities, including assignments and tests, and awards
final grades
- Sets the academic calendar
for courses it offers through VCT
- The host college pays
the provider a per-student instructional fee, following guidelines
stated in the VCT Memorandum of Understanding. This fee is paid
by the host college, not by students.
-
Students
throughout Texas have access to a statewide, online distance learning
course schedule.
This means that it is less likely for a student not to have access
to a critical course at a critical point because it isn't offered
in the semester it's needed or it's full.
- Students are supported
with quality, locally-delivered student services.
-
They
pay in-district tuition if they are in-district students, irrespective
of which colleges provide courses taken through VCT.
- Courses provided by
multiple colleges throughout Texas are maintained on a single transcript
at the host college.
Colleges' Participation
in VCT
Colleges decide for themselves whether or not they participate in
VCT and, if they do, how and to what extent. Some colleges only
provide courses because they locally offer large numbers of distance
learning courses that usually meet their students' needs. Other
colleges, with fewer locally offered distance learning courses,
may serve mostly as host colleges, meaning they enroll students
in courses provided by other colleges. Still other colleges both
host and provide courses.
The following colleges currently participate
as Host colleges in VCT. That means that they selectively offer
courses that are available through VCT. Each college decides for
itself which courses in the VCT State Course Schedule to make available
to its students.
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