Park University is one of the several colleges out there that offers Spanish classes online for college credit. Each semester Spanish I and Spanish II are offered. Depending on demand there are sometimes upper level Spanish classes offered too. Park University is a good option if you are looking to fulfill your Spanish credits, but there is some basic information you’ll want to know before signing up for classes.
Park works on an eight week semester. So for the fall there are two semesters (Fall 1 and Fall 2). The Spanish I and II classes are offered during each eight week session. This is true for the spring and summer too. Both of these classes are four credit hours each. This means that you could finish Spanish I and II in sixteen weeks. Most universities only offer the traditional sixteen week classes. To find information on applying go to http://www.park.edu/online/apply.aspx. The cost is $273 per credit hour.
Since the online Spanish classes are eight weeks long you are going to have to dedicate some time to the work required. Students will be required to purchase the online text book package called EN LINEA v2.0+Vistas 3rd edition text which can be found at: www.vhldirect.com using the ISBN # 1-60007-373-5. The majority of the course work will be completed through this online text book. The publisher has basically transferred a Spanish text book into an online format. Students watch and read lesson tutorials that the text provides and they then complete the required exercises. These are submitted to the instructor online through the online text program. Most of the exercises involve writing out your answers, but there are a few in which the student has to record their voice. The online text has everything set up for you to record your voice for these kinds of exercises. You just need to have a microphone built into your computer or one that connects to it. Any computer will take a microphone and they are cheap, so this is usually not an issue. The lesson tests are also taken through this online text book. On average I would say that a student will need to spend about 10 hours a week to watch and read the lesson tutorials, complete the online textbook exercises, and take the exams. Those who have already taken a Spanish class in the past may need less time and those who have never taken any Spanish may need more. Spanish I is designed for the student who has never taken Spanish. That being said it will, of course, be easier if you have had a year or two of Spanish in high school.
Besides the work done in your online text there are other course requirements. You will be required to participate in a weekly discussion. The instructor will pick a topic that is relevant to what is being studied. Your job as a student is to comment on the discussion prompt and to respond to your classmate’s posts. This really doesn’t take that long and it is really just an area that students can use to communicate with each other and feel like part of the class. At the end of the semester there is a cumulative final exam and an oral interview with the instructor. The instructor will send the students a list of questions in Spanish that have to do with the lessons. During the last week of class the instructor will set up a time with each student to go over these questions. This can be done over the phone or in the online chat room provided by the text book program.
As with any online college class, a student taking Spanish with Park will need to be self motivated, organized and computer literate. Students who have had some Spanish in the past tend to thrive in this class. Students brand new to Spanish really miss having the instructor right there to answer questions and sometimes this kind of student struggles. Decide what kind of student you are and go from there.
