Types of CN Courses & Activities

Getting on Campus

The "road to college" doesn't need to stay at the level of metaphor. For many students—particularly those who do not have a family history of college attendance—actual campus visits are an important part of the college preparation process.

Of course, some College Now courses take place on campus. If not, we encourage our instructors to incorporate arts programming, college library activities, or college campus tours to enable students to experience college activities outside the traditional classroom—even in classes designated as high school courses or workshops.

College Now programs offer college credit and noncredit activities; high school courses; and topical workshops in arts, technology, college counseling, and effective learning strategies. The approach to teaching and learning in College Now activities depends—in large part—on the activity type.

College-Credit Courses

College-credit courses follow campus departmental guidelines, which often include content and assessment requirements. Class size is typically between 20-25 students. To ensure the integrity of these courses, College Now relies on college departmental course coordinators to evaluate teaching and learning. College Now will work with instructors through professional development activities to determine the most effective practices to support successful learning in these courses.

College-Noncredit Courses

Like college-credit courses, these college-catalogue courses are under the purview of college departments. Providing students opportunities to take noncredit courses while in high school moves them further ahead in their pursuit of a college degree. These courses focus specifically on foundations in literacy or math.

High School Credit Courses

Subject Credit/CNFCs
Working with high school principals, College Now campus programs might offer a category of courses designed to develop discipline-specific skills and knowledge that students should be familiar with before taking college-credit courses. College Now Foundation Courses (CNFC) are developed by college and high school teachers through participation in a semester-long or summer curriculum development project
Elective Credit
Some College Now programs have put processes in place for developing courses aimed at serving students earlier in high school than junior year. These activities are similar to Foundation Courses but offered only for elective high school credit.

Workshops

College Now workshops are not offered for high school credit. These activities are designed around a specific high interest topic and comprise at least 21 hours of instruction. Curricula include clearly defined assessments of student learning.