AA AS Learning Community

Summary

Highlights

• The AA and AS degrees are primarily for students planning to transfer to a four-year university. 🎓
• Cultural competence is a crucial requirement, helping students thrive in diverse environments. 🌍
• The digital literacy course develops essential skills for modern, tech-savvy professions. 💻
• Taking the college success requirement early ensures students are set on the right track. 🚀
• It's important to align courses with financial aid requirements to avoid unexpected expenses. 💸

Key Takeaways

• The AA and AS degrees are designed for easy transfer to a four-year university. 🎓
• Both degrees require 60 credit hours, including a general education core, electives, and specific course requirements. 📚
• Cultural competence and digital literacy courses are essential components of these degrees. 🌍
• Students are encouraged to work closely with advisors to ensure course alignment with career goals. 👥
• Successful completion of the general education core leads to becoming 'Gen Ed certified'. ✅

Overview

AA AS Learning Community Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 hello everyone and welcome to another success Workshop  Series today our Workshop series is about the   associate in arts and associate in science  learning community and this is more or less   a group advising session to learn about the AA  and AS degree the components of these degrees   and what you can do with these degrese so with  that said let's get started so what is the AA and
• 00:30 - 01:00 AS these are degrees associate degrees two-year  degrees that are meant or intended for transfer   to a four-year University the components of the AA  / AS include three main areas you have the general   education core which make up 33 credit hours you  have hours beyond the core which are six credit
• 01:00 - 01:30 hours and then you have electives of 21 credit  hours however of that 21 credit hour six hours   are used with the digital literacy and college  success course requirement giving a total of 60   credit hours for each of the AA and the AS degrees  One requirement in the AA and AS degree include   cultural competence this is a requirement that  prepares students to live in diverse and domestic
• 01:30 - 02:00 International environments and these courses  encourage students to use critical thinking   skills to develop an understanding of diversity  equity and inclusion some of the courses that   we have in this category on the schedule in  Spring 2024 include GEO 172 HUM 202 REL 130
• 02:00 - 02:30 Spanish 101 and Spanish 115 these courses also  count as other general education categories so   for example the GEO 172 and REL 130 also count  for your social Behavioral Science requirement   and Spanish would count as your Humanities or  foreign language require requirement which we   don't have just a specific foreign language but it  does count in your Gen Ed category and so for the
• 02:30 - 03:00 completion of the AA / AS degree students must  have at least one cultural competence course to   meet the requirement for the AAS AA and AS degree  there is also additional literacy requirement that   I mentioned earlier this is counted as an elective  and KCTCS defines digital literacy as the ability   to locate evaluate and ethically create and share  information using visual technologies to enhance
• 03:00 - 03:30 one's quality of life and vocation and some of  the courses in this requirement include CAD 100   most students take CIT 105 but you can also take  DLC 100 if you're in sonography EMS 119 counts   EDU 204 and VCC 125 there are other courses on  this list but they are not required here at HCTC   with the programs that we have also if you're in  the nursing program across nursing the completion
• 03:30 - 04:00 of the nursing program meets the requirement for  digital literacy you also have another requirement   which is called the college success requirement  and this is also counted in your elective as an   elective course this course promotes college  completion by providing an in-depth experience   that help students learn a model for decision  making of life-defining choices students learn   to use available resources to develop knowledge  skills and attitudes to promote success now some
• 04:00 - 04:30 of the courses that are used in this category are  primarily FYE 105 and on occasion we do have FYE   100 that is offered in it also counts but both  of these courses should be taken in your first   semester so if you're listening to this and you're  in your first semester and you're not enrolled in   this class you do need to enroll in this class  next semester so please make sure when you're
• 04:30 - 05:00 meeting with your advisor that you're um signing  up for this course requirement you cannot graduate   without the AA or AS um the AA or AS degree  without taking a college success requirement   now let's look a little deeper into each of the  three areas of the AA and AS as I mentioned before   you have the general education core that makes up  33 credit hours you can see the requirements on   the left-hand side of written communication which  is six credit hours in both the AA and AS or and
• 05:00 - 05:30 those courses include English 101 and English 102  you have oral communications which is a 3 credit   hour requirement for both the AA and AS and  this includes courses such as COM 181 or COM   252 we have an Arts and Humanities requirement  of six credit hours in both the AA and the AS   and that includes courses such as ART 100 MUS 100  any HUM class then you also have a quantitative
• 05:30 - 06:00 reasoning requirement for the AA it's only three  credit hours and in the associate of science it's   a six credit hour requirement so make sure you  notice the difference there and with um the AA   the quantitative reasoning to be math [MAT] 146  that is a class that we typically see a lot of   students take if they are an AA major we also see  students take that class for nursing because that
• 06:00 - 06:30 is an acceptable math class for nursing in the  associate of science for the six credit hours   you do have to take a second math class then we  move on to Natural Sciences you must have one   with a lab so for the AA it's a three credit  hour requirement but technically when you're   taking the science with the lab you end up with  four credit hours and that would just be an hour   carryover down into your either Beyond core or to  your elective sec sec section excuse me and then
• 06:30 - 07:00 for the associate in science the Natural Sciences  requirement is six credit hours and yes one of   them also include one with the lab and examples of  that might be biology 112 with 113 lab biology 137   which is human anatomy and physiology which has  the lab integrated you may also have a chemistry   class lecture with the lab physics geology there's  a variety of different courses that you can take
• 07:00 - 07:30 to meet this requirement the next section is the  social behavoiral sciences and here you take two   different um classes they have to come from two  different disciplines um and different from the   Arts and Humanities course that you take so for  the AA the requirement is nine credit hours and   that's typically three classes and for the AS that  is six credit hours to give you an example of how   two disciplines would be different typically  we see a lot of students take PSY 110 which
• 07:30 - 08:00 is introduction to psychology and the SOC 101  which is introduction to sociology so with PSY   110 and SOC 101 we have two different disciplines  um being represented um we typically um also see   students that really like psychology so they try  to take for example if they're an AA student they   try to take three psych classes well won't work  here you have to make sure you have two different
• 08:00 - 08:30 disciplines represented either in whether you're  in AA or AS and then the last category for this   block is the quantitative reasoning or natural  sciences so that means you need to take another   math class or another natural science class so  you get to pick so for the AA the requirement   is a three credit hour requirement whereas for the  associate in science there is no requirement zero   so you would have to take an extra one because  you're already taking the extra class above um
• 08:30 - 09:00 as required there's an extra math and science as  you can see listed above in comparison to the AA   this in total gives you 33 credit hours for the  general education core so now as we move on to be   the hours beyond the core this is six credit hours  so if you're um in the associate of science and   actually I noticed a little um snafu here for the  AA it is six hours whereas it should be zero for
• 09:00 - 09:30 the AS so what I'm going to do is actually correct  this on the spot so I can make sure that you're   seeing the correct information so it should be  zero for um the AS degree beyond the core so for   AA beyond the core you have to take six additional  credit hours in arts and humanities social
• 09:30 - 10:00 behavioral sciences oral communications and or  foreign language and so you see for associate in   science on that line that's zero credits because  the core for the AS must be in quantitative   reasoning and or natural sciences so in the line  below you'll see zero credit hours for the AA and   six credit hours for the associate in science  which in total is six credit hours additional   for the core whether you're in the AA or the AS  program if you are double majoring in both the
• 10:00 - 10:30 AA and the AS you would have an additional six  credit hours here um in beyond the core and then   the last section of the AA and AS degree are  the elective section which you have to have 21   credit hours of electives six hours of courses  required as I mentioned earlier for the college
• 10:30 - 11:00 success and the digital literacy and that gives  you remaining 15 credit hours to use with other   courses we usually suggest using those 15 credit  hours to fulfill any pre major requirements so as   you can see here for AA and AS you need a college  success course at three credit hours typically as   I've mentioned that's FYE 105 we have on occasion  taught the FYE 100 which is only a one credit hour
• 11:00 - 11:30 course which would actually allow you to take a an  extra class in this section for electives and as   mentioned you really need to take this FYE 105 or  the FYE 100 in your first semester a lot of times   you'll see the FYE 100 when we do our FAST bridge  program during the summer in the month of July   which is a week long um session for that class  and we also build in orientation and then the
• 11:30 - 12:00 other requirement that is required as an elective  is your digital literacy requirement and that is   three credit hours again for both the AA and the  AS and then that leaves you the remaining hours   as electives and as I said you might want to take  that for um fulfilling any pre-major requirements   that you're interested in and as I emphasize  the AA and the AS is a transfer program so it   you're in these programs the thought is that you  will be going to a four-year University in some
• 12:00 - 12:30 major so now when we go on and we're talking  about the possible elective considerations as   I said you would have at least 15 credit hours you  can actually earn a short-term certificate that we   may offer here at HCTC within that 15 credit hour  of your electives so these are just some examples
• 12:30 - 13:00 that HCTC offers that you may also be interested  in so you could take a variety of different   IT certifications that we have under our CIT  program we have Machine Tool certificate that is   short-term the phlebotomist certificates are short  term there is some heavy equipment certificates   that are worth 10 credit hours such as bulldozer  um we also have direct support work under Human   Services we have child care assistant and provider  under our um early childhood education program we
• 13:00 - 13:30 have a drone operator course we have a variety of  digital photography design assistant mixed media   and I didn't put it on this list but we also have  some students that will go ahead and take for   example medical terminology and nurse aid if they  are interested in an Allied Health field such as nursing some other possibilities and  considerations to think about is if you
• 13:30 - 14:00 are going to transfer into a um pre-professional  medical um degree um you can take a lot of courses   towards biomedical we also have um Pharmacy  and MLS with UK and I'll put a plug here we   do have a University Center of the Mountains  on our Hazard campus that is available for   students and we have several four-year partners  within the University Center of the Mountains
• 14:00 - 14:30 that allow you to stay here in the mountains  and get your bachelor's um Master's or even   doctorate degree we have a variety of different  partners and degree options um and we do see a   lot of that we do the biomedical and Pharmacy  MLS is a program that's actually right here   with the UK um by the ARH hospital and you  actually can get your AS with us and then
• 14:30 - 15:00 apply for the MLS programming be done in 18  months and then be working you know so it's   a short-term bachelor degree that we work  with UK on also we have a lot of students   that are in these majors that are interested in  selective admissions programs such as nursing   sonography radiography surg tech I didn't  put that on there but we also have surgical   technology and so a lot of students try to  fulfill the prerequisites for those programs
• 15:00 - 15:30 and then apply to the nursing um as I said the  related selective admissions programs that we have now when you are completing your AS and AA  requirements and you're getting you know ready   for transfer that first block that I mentioned  earlier of the 33 credit hours when you complete   that when you successfully complete the courses  in that block you will be what is called fully
• 15:30 - 16:00 Gen Ed certified and that means that when you  transfer these hours go all together as a block   to the four-year University meaning they take  them in total um across the degree and of course   when you finish your AA and AS that also will go  to most of your I mean well to the public um 4 years and then there's something that's called  program applicability that you may or may not   have heard of but if you're receiving financial  aid um that Aid will only pay for the classes
• 16:00 - 16:30 that apply to your major and of course if you're  in courses that are not in your major your aid   may be adjusted accordingly so that means you  may have to pay out of pocket for courses that   are not relatable or applicable to your program  and I do have a short video that I want to show   here that talks about that give you a better idea  make the most of your financial aid did you know
• 16:30 - 17:00 federal financial aid only pays for classes  that are required for your program of study   are you in the right classes say your program  of study is Health Information Technology the   job market is booming for health careers and  it's time to register for next semester first   visit your student self-service account here  you can make sure health information is your   declared program of study if you're already  registered you can also view your schedule   here medical terminology check clinical  systems check software integration check
• 17:00 - 17:30 wait you really want to take that brake systems  class so you can work on your own car that does   sound like a great class and super useful  but you might want to tap the brakes if you   need federal financial aid to pay for it these  guidelines were put in place to help students   stay focused on your program graduate faster  lower the cost of your education if you're not   able to pay for the class yourself maybe you  can take that break system class at another   time does this all seem a bit confusing make an  appointment with your adviser they can help you
• 17:30 - 18:00 make the most of your financial aid and keep  you on track to graduate you're going to do great so that gives you a little bit of an  example of how the program applicability   works and how you want to make  sure that you're looking at the   correct courses for oops out so it's  going to another video hold on just a
• 18:00 - 18:30 second sorry about that back on the right slide here so um just  to summarize the program applicability just   really important for you to work with  your advisor make sure you're looking   at the catalog you're in the correct major I  know that I have had advises um double major   which would allow them to take a couple of extra  courses and that might be something to consider
• 18:30 - 19:00 depending on your path as far as a career  that you want to do in the courses that you need okay so which classes should I register for  and these are just some general um tips to keep in   mind when you're thinking about about registering  for next semester so as I've mentioned I think
• 19:00 - 19:30 throughout this presentation please make sure  you get with your advisory you want to discuss   your academic career goals to make sure that the  courses you're taking are um appropriate courses   and that you're in an appropriate major for what  you want to do in life so when you get done with   college you are going to want a job that you like  so you want to make sure that in that career path   of whatever that is for you so make sure you're  working with your advisor there is an option
• 19:30 - 20:00 in your student self-service to run the academic  requirement report and that allows you to see what   courses you need to complete your major and again  if you're not sure where that is at your advisor   can assist and then we also have um you know the  student services tile in MyPath and that's where   you can go look at a variety of information in  your student center you can as I mentioned look
• 20:00 - 20:30 at the academic report you can review any to-dos  or messages you could also look at advising notes   and that allows you to see any notes that may have  been placed on your account that may also include   a graduation plan of the courses that are required  for the major that you're in and um making sure   your address you know your phone number all  those things are up to date looking at your   schedule looking at financial aid there are a lot  of different things in your student self-services
• 20:30 - 21:00 tile and if you are planning on transferring we  want to make sure we connect you with a transfer   advisor and really when I say that I'm talking  about our University Center of the Mountains   because you want to learn about the specific  program requirements at the transfer school so   in your first semester this is your first semester  and let's say for example you know that you want   to train transfer we'll say to Morehead State  University and get your bachelor's degree in
• 21:00 - 21:30 teaching or education we want to make sure that  we're connecting you to a person in the University   Center of the Mountains that can make sure that  for Morehead you're taking the appropriate social   Behavioral Science courses or you're taking  the appropriate um natural science courses   and so forth so it's really important that you get  connected earlier versus later so that way again   we don't want you to waste not one credit hour on  what your intended major is and what those program
• 21:30 - 22:00 requirements is for that major and I do have one  other short video I promise to show you um let me is what is a home warranty it's a  one-year service plan that helps cover costs
• 22:00 - 22:30 make the most of your financial aid did you know  federal financial aid only pays for classes that   are required for your program of study connected  to the same are you in the right class I apologize   for that I had a different one there but in  any case um we will go on and actually I'm   at the end of my presentation so if you have  any questions you can feel free to turn your   mic on now or post them in the chat otherwise  it has been great being here with you today
• 22:30 - 23:00 to talk about the AA and AS degree and the  flexibility of that degree depending on what   your intended program major or your ultimately  the end of what your your career is going to be right I do not hear or see any  questions so I thank you for attending
• 23:00 - 23:30 the session today and please join us  again for a future um success workshop