Foothill College Summary
Comparability/Context
- Foothill College is a community college in the heart of Silicon Valley. Foothill is part of a two-college district along with DeAnza College.
- Enrollment is 19,000 and the total for the district is over 44,000.
- Foothill offers both fully-online and hybrid courses. (approx. 150 sections per semester with 7000+ enrollment.)
- Foothill uses their own home-grown course management system (Etudes) which is now also used by a large consortium of other colleges for a very nominal fee.
- Students learn to use the system with online tutorials.
- Faculty members learn to use the system with a self-paced online training program though workshops are also available during the semester and as a summer intensive.
- Tech support is only by email, discussion boards and chat (no telephone support). Students get a 24 hr. response time or less on questions to the Help Desk (staffed by in house support staff).
- Online courses are cross-listed under Foothill Global Access website as well as within the dept/division schedule.
- There is no attempt to coordinate offerings in the district where they have just switched to Etudes from either Blackboard or WebCT. Courses are scheduled independently.
- Foothill provides 9 full-online AA degree programs and a suite of GE courses.
- New courses are developed by faculty interested in doing so but deans discuss and prioritize new online degree programs.
Recent Trends
- No longer offer any TV courses. Phased out because of high cost and low enrollment. Some TV courses are still offered by DeAnza College in the district.
Provocative Elements
- Faculty training is MANDATORY before instructors can teach either a web-enhanced, hybrid or online course.
- There are student evaluations of every course, NOT just those when faculty are scheduled for peer review.
- Students can enroll in a fully online BA or BS programs that Foothill offers in conjunction with either University of Illinois at Springfield OR Franklin University.
Full DE Survey from Foothill College (98 KB Word document)
Foothill College Website
Distance Education Strategic Options Report
Los Rios Community College District
Last updated: Friday, October 22, 2004 at 2:37:56 PM.