Barton Community College hosted a ribbon cutting Thursday morning, June 7, to celebrate its new online course schedule.
Associate Dean of Distance Learning Claudia Mather said this is a completely new and innovative schedule for delivering online courses. BARTonline now offers 15 online sessions throughout the year in four, six, eight and 16-week formats, meaning students are no longer confined to traditional semesters.
“Students can build their own schedule, from a traditional 16-week course or a fast route if they want,” said Brandon Steinert, director of public relations.
This new format is in an effort to better fit the demands of today’s diverse student body, Steinert said. “The work is more condensed (in the shorter classes). If you can handle the duration of the more intense courseload, you can get a lot done in a year.”

Barton served 14,711 students in 2017-2018, college officials noted; 52.6 percent took at least one online class.
The college recently kicked off the new format this summer with three sessions, two of which are back-to-back six-week classes, allowing students to tackle their general education requirements faster. For example, students could take English Comp I in the first session, then Comp II immediately afterward, tackling six credits in one summer, which would normally be spaced out over an entire school year.
Barton is always enrolling at BARTonline.org, and sessions are open through December. The next six-week session starts Monday, July 2, and ends Aug. 12.
For more information, visit BARTonline.org or contact the admissions department at admissions@bartonccc.edu.