Educational Opportunities

Educational Opportunities

Honor student smiles while holding her honors medal.

To meet the varying needs of students, courses are offered in different scheduling patterns and alternative forms of delivery. Most are traditional full term courses, but many are condensed in time to better match busy schedules. Some classes start a few weeks later than the full term classes and meet for 14 weeks; these options approximate public-school and four-year school calendars. Other courses can be completed in shorter time frames, including first eight weeks, last eight weeks and one or two day seminars. Courses are available mornings, afternoons and evenings Monday through Friday, as well as on weekends. Most courses are offered on campus but courses are also available through distance education (online and partially online) and at local high schools, requiring minimal trips to campus.

Moorpark College’s goal is to be responsive to the many scheduling needs of students as they juggle jobs and family obligations. To match specific scheduling needs with the course offerings, students can consult each semester’s online Schedule of Classes. These schedules are available at www.moorparkcollege.edu. Each course entry notes the length of the course, when it meets, and where. The special enrollment and refund deadlines for all classes are available by clicking on the Course Record Number (CRN) for each specific course. The length of each specific course determines the deadlines (enrollment, drop, refund, etc.). Up-to-date information is available online by clicking on the Course Record Number (CRN) in the online schedule.

Honors Program

The Honors Program offers a series of intellectually challenging courses in different disciplines that invites students to explore topics in depth, often by working in a seminar-type class with other motivated students. In addition, Honors students benefit from more one-on-one interactions from instructors and counselors. Students can take an Honors course or two in a favorite discipline, or they can graduate from the Honors Program after completing 15 units of honors courses, making at least one formal scholarly presentation before a body of their peers, attending four extracurricular activities and earning a GPA of 3.25 in all honors courses as well as an overall GPA of 3.25.

Students requiring Honors certification for transfer must have earned a 3.25 GPA by the time of certification and completed a minimum of two semesters in the Program. Entrance into the Honors Program is based on a high school GPA of 3.25 or college GPA of 3.0 with 12 units of transferable college-level courses. Admission to the Program is granted once application with GPA documentation is received and approved, and applicant has attended a mandatory orientation.

Students graduating high school with a GPA lower than 3.25 are strongly encouraged to set a goal to join the Honors Program after their first semester, where they can gain formal acceptance with a GPA of 3.0 with 12 units of transferable college-level courses.  To help achieve this goal, students can take a one-unit Honors: Student Success course (COUN M01H), which introduces strategies, attitudes and skills that promote academic success.  We also encourage students to meet with a counselor to formulate a plan for gaining acceptance into the Honors Program.

There are many rewards of the Honors Program. Students completing the Program enjoy enhanced transfer consideration and/or other benefits with schools that are our transfer partners. They may include guaranteed or priority acceptance consideration, special scholarships, housing priority, pre-transfer library privileges, recognition of honors program completion as an indicator of academic rigor, and a range of other academic, cultural, and social benefits.

Student Learning Outcomes:

  1. Demonstrate exposure to and engagement in extracurricular events. 
  2. Give a presentation before instructor and body of peers. 
  3. Meet with counselors every semester while in the Program to monitor academic progress and goals.
 

For more information about the program visit Moorpark College Honors Program, call the Social Science Division Office at (805) 378 1445 or email mchonors@vcccd.edu.

UCLA Transfer Alliance Program (TAP)

This partnership with UCLA provides Honors Program graduates with priority consideration for transfer and eligibility to apply for the “TAP Scholars” scholarship.

Distance Education

Distance education means instruction in which the instructor and student are separated by distance and interact through the Internet. This definition includes both hybrid and fully online courses.

ONLINE courses are 100% online. Course content is delivered through the Canvas learning management system. Internet access is required. Access to the Internet is available throughout campus, and may be accessed through the Library Open Access Computer Lab. Students must bring their own headphones for courses with video and audio components. Current Library Learning Resources hours are posted at www.moorparkcollege.edu/library.

Students in HYBRID courses are required to attend on-campus meetings. Students can access information regarding required on-campus meetings by clicking on the CRN next to the course in the online Schedule of Classes available at moorparkcollege.edu. CRN notes also include instructor contact information and critical course dates. Students should check their my.vcccd.edu email for information from their instructors regarding the course before the course begins. All students, both registered and on the waitlist, are expected to attend the first class meeting. For online classes, the first meeting is considered the day the course begins, or the date designated by the instructor.

Prior to starting a distance education course, students should check the settings on their computers to ensure compatibility with the learning management system. Please look at the System Minimum Requirements www.moorparkcollege.edu/dehelp. High-speed DSL or cable Internet access is highly recommended. Trouble shooting instructions are available at www.moorparkcollege.edu/dehelp or by calling the District Help Desk at (805) 652-7777.

Internship

Internship courses provide students with the opportunity to earn graded college credit by working in a volunteer or paid internship position that is related to their career goal and/or major. Students receive one unit of credit for each 60 hours of unpaid work or 75 hours of paid work, and may enroll each semester for up to 4 units. The student may be able to accumulate up to 16 units by taking the Internship courses multiple times. The student must submit a current resume, attend an orientation, develop learning objectives, complete a related project or report, and maintain signed verification of hours. The student meets with an assigned faculty advisor who supervises the experience, visits the worksite, and evaluates assignments.

These opportunities for on-the-job learning are advertised and coordinated through the Career Transfer Center. The Career Transfer Center is located in Fountain Hall. Call (805) 378-1536, email mcctc@vcccd.edu, or visit our website under Services for Students at www.moorparkcollege.edu/internships for more information. Course descriptions are listed in the “Course and Program Descriptions” section in the Catalog under each discipline that offers an internship.

Independent Study

The intent of an Independent Study is to enable students to further explore particular aspects of a subject by studying it in depth under the direction of an authorized instructor in that discipline. The student is expected to have completed at least one previous course in the subject matter. Students wishing to enroll in an Independent Study must be enrolled in at least three other units of course work at Moorpark College for the semester in which the Independent Study is to be taken. A student may be enrolled in no more than two independent studies in one semester and no more than one course in a discipline in a semester. A maximum of twelve total units of Independent Study course work may be taken at Moorpark College, with a maximum of six units in one discipline. Students wishing to complete an Independent Study should contact an instructor in the discipline in order to develop a program plan and to initiate the required paperwork by the appropriate deadline.