The college’s fall schedule will include classes as early as 6 a.m., more Friday and Saturday classes, a wide selection of online courses and an expanded number of hybrid courses, which combine the convenience of online study with limited on-campus sessions.
Nine courses, including general education, business and computer science, are designed to meet four or fewer times on campus, while 13 courses will hold only five to eight on-campus sessions.
“The hybrid courses are perfect for busy professionals,” says Pamela Mennechey, associate vice president, Student Recruitment and Enrollment. “They offer the best of both worlds: You can use technology to work on your own time, but in class you get interaction with your classmates and the professor.”
In addition to flexible course hours, Seminole State will offer a new Pharmacy Technology and Management Program and a dozen new certificate programs in fields ranging from project management to science and business.
In August, Seminole State will become the only public college in Central Florida offering a comprehensive pharmacy technology program approved by the Florida Board of Pharmacy.
The program will offer two routes into this fast-growing industry: an Associate in Science (A.S.) Degree in Pharmacy Management and a Pharmacy Technician Applied Technology Diploma.
Among the new certificate offerings this fall is Project Management, which is available to post-baccalaureate students who want to specialize in overseeing projects in a variety of professional settings.
The program, which consists of 15 credit hours, or five classes, is offered entirely online as well as in a traditional classroom format, Staley says.
“According to the Project Management Institute,” Staley says, “having specific project management credentials can increase your salary by up to 10 percent.”
Other certificates include:
• Financial Operations and Financial Operations Specialist: These college-credit certificate programs offer students a solid grounding for a four-year business degree, as well as providing them with the concepts necessary to start their own businesses.
• Laboratory Science: Students who complete a core group of lab science courses and receive this college-credit certificate may have an advantage when they apply for lab technician positions.
Technology
Seminole State’s Information Technology Department is expanding its offerings to prepare students for the latest technologies.
• iPhone Programming: The IT Department will offer two courses in iPhone programming starting in August. The first, iPhone Programming (COP 2654C), will focus on Apple development tools and the Objective C programming language. The second, Advanced iPhone Programming (COP 2658C) will focus on building multiview applications, saving data using a database, drawing with a graphics library and using images and sound.
• Virtualization Track: Students in the A.S. network services technology program now can choose a four-course specialization track in cloud computing. The courses will cover infrastructure, server implementation and information storage management. After completing the track, students will be prepared to sit for the VCP certification from VMware, as well as other relevant credentials. The first class, CTS 2370C, is entirely online and begins Aug. 27.