Amarillo College staff see increased interest in students preferring to take online classes

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - The welcome back signs are back up at Amarillo College as students navigate their way around campus.

As these students are out and about heading to class, some are staying to themselves, opting to learn online.

“Over time we will continue to increase the number of online sections,” said Bob Austin, vice president of enrollment management at Amarillo College.

At the start of COVID-19 in 2020, Amarillo College went to a full tech supported format teaching classes.

These classes are taught in a live lecture setting online with peers at a specific time each week.

For students going back to in-person classes today, more are preferring to take online classes.

“We’ve had reports from students who’ve said that they prefer to just be online for now, and that’s fine,” said Austin. “We have enough online sections available that we can accommodate those kinds of requests.”

Being in fully online courses allows students to work on their own schedule not meeting with teachers.

Austin says flexibility is the biggest reason for students to choose this option

“We’ve seen an increase over the last year and a half of not only the number online sections that we’re offering, but obviously we’ve seen an increase in students enrolled in online sections,” said Austin.

With Amarillo College offering 1800 class sections,1/3 of them now being available in an online format, the school released a statement celebrating their adaptability to meet the academic need of students.

The school is offering laptops to students who are interested in learning online and not having one.

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