While students are registering for classes, they may see that some courses are offered through eCore. eCore is short for electronic core-curriculum and it gives students the opportunity to complete their first two years of their collegiate careers online.

These courses are offered to undergraduates, transient students from other institutions, juniors, seniors, graduate students and students who just need to pick up a core course.

eCore gives students the flexibility of an online course and it guarantees quality in both instruction and content.

Online Instructional Designer for eLearning, Alison Downey,  said that eCore has many advantages.

These advantages include, “free online textbooks, a low tuition rate (less than the tuition for traditional classes), and students can register through the Banner system, just like they would any other course,” she said.

She also stated that some factors of eCore should be considered before registering for the course.

“You should take into consideration the fact that eCore may not follow the same academic calendar as VSU.” Downey said. “eCore uses GoView instead of BlazeView, and you may have an instructor and classmates who are not affiliated with VSU which will make it difficult to build relationships.”

Taylor Baltrus, junior, exercise physiology major, stated that she loved eCore because it allowed her to complete the course on her own time and it gave her time to work ahead if she knew an event was coming up.

“Overall, I enjoyed the comfort of being able to go more at my own pace and at my own time,” Baltrus said.

However, Baltrus did not like the fact that students had to pay a small fee in order to take the mandatory proctored exams.

“It (the small fee for proctored exams) was a little bit more of an inconvenience than just your average in-class finals, but all of the other useful amenities of eCore classes honestly make up for this small inconvenience,” she said.

Baltrus said that she would recommend using ecore but only if it’s a good fit for other students schedule and learning style.

“I just suggest that if you are going to take an eCore class, you must understand that there is more responsibility when holding yourself accountable, considering you can log in whenever you want rather than having a class in which to be present at a certain time,” she said.

To ensure that eCore is a good fit for you, you may take the eCore Introduction Quiz which is available on the VSU website. This quiz assesses the type of learner you are. Based on your answers, it tells you if eCore is right for you.

Written by Breannia Stillwell, Staff Writer. Photo Courtesy of  Lenah Allen 

For more Campus Life stories, click here.