Online education offers you the opportunity to study whenever it fits into your life—whether that’s at 5 am before the kids wake up, on your lunch hour, or for a few hours at night. Online education allows you to fit education into your life instead of re-organizing your life around education.
We offer many online degree programs that are available completely online that are designed to seamlessly transfer to a 4-year degree. More than 100 of our for-credit classes are available online, too.
Requirements for online classes
You must meet some requirements to take online classes. Why? Because we want you to
succeed. We have found that students who don’t meet the requirements frequently have
trouble with online classes. Please complete the Registration Request for the Introduction to Online Learning Class form.
In order to register and take online classes at WCC, you must meet 1 of these 2 criteria:
- Completion of 8 or more credit hours with a cumulative GPA 2.0 or above; OR
- Successful completion of Ready for Online Learning - ROLL.
You can confirm that you meet the criteria by checking you account in MyWCC.
Note: If you’re a United Association member, additional class and registration information is available on the UA page.
How to register
- Enroll in your online class during the registration period through your MyWCC account.
- Test your access to the Blackboard class management system. If you’re reasonably comfortable online, you should have no trouble with Blackboard. It’s the class management system that you’ll use to watch video lectures, submit assignments, take tests, and more.
- While you’re in Blackboard, click on the My Courses panel and select the Online Prep Site to see what books or other materials you need. You also can find your required books and materials by checking the class schedule.
- If you’ll use financial aid to pay for your books, authorize a financial aid transfer to WCC’s Barnes & Noble Bookstore. To do this, log into MyWCC and click on the Financial Aid tab › Bookstore Information › Barnes & Noble Transfer Authorization.
- Order your books and any other materials through the Barnes & Noble Bookstore. You can order online, by phone, or at the on-campus store.
- Pay your tuition by the deadline.
Computer requirements and skills
You can access your classes and course information at any time, as long as you have a Windows PC or equivalent Mac computer with a high-speed internet connection, such as a DSL or cable connection.
Your computer should have up-to-date versions of the following web browsers:
- Chrome
- Firefox
- Internet Explorer
- Safari
It also should have up-to-date versions of the following software:
- Adobe Acrobat Reader
- Adobe Flash Player
- Java
- Microsoft Office (or the ability to open Office documents in a program such as OpenOffice.org or Office Web Apps through Microsoft)
To participate successfully in an online or blended class, you should be able to:
- Perform basic word processing.
- Use a web browser to visit websites and print web documents.
- Use email to send and receive messages, reply to messages, cut and paste text between messages, open attachments, and attach files to messages.
- If your computer skills aren’t at the level needed, WCC offers non-credit classes where you can get up to speed on everything from word processing to using the web.
Online class grievance procedure
We are committed to resolving concerns and complaints in a timely, fair, and amicable manner. If you ever have a problem with an online class at WCC, review your Student Rights and Responsibilities described in the Board of Trustees Policy 4095 . For questions or concerns regarding your Student Rights and Responsibilities, contact the Dean of Students .
If you reside outside of Michigan while taking a WCC online class and are unable to resolve any issue by contacting the Dean of Students, you may contact the appropriate office in your state. That information is provided in the List of State Offices . For additional assistance, you may contact our accrediting agency, the Higher Learning Commission .
Additional information is available for out-of-state students.