F.A.Q.

CAREFL FAQ - (CAPE REmote Foreign Languages)

• What are the costs?

• Who pays the fees?

• How many students do we need?

• What distance technologies are used?

• Does it matter if my school uses block schedule or traditional schedule?

• Who provides dual enrollment credit?

• Who are the instructors?

• How long has this program been going on?

• Can only juniors and seniors participate?

• What courses are offered?

• Is the college credit transferable?

• Do teachers’ associations support it?

1)  What are the costs?

Each dual enrollment course costs $600/student/semester to cover tuition, credit, registration and technology. Without college credit, the cost is $400/student/semester/course.  (These costs are for CAPE members. Non-member rates are higher.)  Add about $100 for textbook and workbook costs. The textbooks cover at least two courses. In other words, the first half of the text and workbooks are used for Japanese I and the second half for Japanese II. All payments are made to CAPE.   Full year courses are available at a cost of $800/student/year for dual enrollment and $600 without college credit.

2)  Who pays the fees?

Some high schools pass all of the costs on to students, others pay all of the costs themselves. Most of our high schools purchase the texts and allow students to re-use them (does not apply to workbooks).

3)  How many students do we need?

At least one! Seriously, these classes often aggregate students from several high schools to make one section. A minimum of fifteen students is desired for a section. If you have fifteen or more students for one section, we may be able to hold a private section for just your school. If you have fewer than fifteen, just let us know, and we'll combine them to get a viable section.

4)  What distance technologies are used?

All of our courses are offered using a live conference system over the Internet. This guarantees us high-quality voice communication and no per-minute costs. Most of our courses have used "desktop" conferencing systems in which each student sits at an individual computer with a headset/microphone. This system may use the Elluminate conference software which we license for your use (no additional charges). The desktop system excels at text and graphics display which is important for learning and writing non-roman alphabets. Some courses use "room-based" videoconference systems, although most of our instructors do not have access to such a system on "their end." CAPE will determine the best technology to use for the specific combination of your students and their instructor. CAPE also provides a content management server through which assignments, resources and tests may be handled according to each instructor's preference.

5)  Does it matter if my school uses block schedule or traditional schedule?

No, our instructors can offer a language course over a semester as a block course or over a full year. In other words, some sections run as a block and others are full year.

6)  Who provides dual enrollment credit?

College credit is provided by Seton Hill University through their College in High School (CHS) program. 

7)  Who are the instructors?

All instructors are Seton Hill University faculty adjunct faculty.

8)  How long has this program been going on?

CAPE has facilitated online Japanese for four years, and we now offer levels up through Japanese IV. This year we have included Chinese, Arabic and Russian levels I through IV.  This is the second year CAPE has partnered with Seton Hill University to offer dual enrollment. To date, over seven hundred students have taken online language courses through CAPE.

9)  Can only juniors and seniors participate?

No, any high school student who completes a dual-enrollment course will receive college credit. However, only juniors and seniors can qualify for discounts provided by the PDE dual enrollment grant program.  Students from kindergarten through adult can take courses without college credit.

10) What courses are offered?

So far we have offered Japanese I, II, II and IV, Chinese I, II, III and IV, Arabic I, II, III and IV, and Russian I, II, III and IV.  We also provide an advanced language arts course.  Future plans include Latin, possibly Italian and a course for middle school students covering the customs and culture of the four languages with some basic language. This would help students to decide which language they might like to take when they reach high school.

11) Is the college credit transferable?

This is ultimately up to the matriculating institution. Seton Hill is a private, small, respected university so there is a reasonable likelihood — but no guarantee — that the credit may be transferred. Since we offer the laguages up through fouth level this year, it may be possible next year for our students to take the AP examination to guarantee credit transfer.

12) Do teachers' associations support it?

Most teachers' associations support the program for one or more of these reasons: 1) There is no instructor in the school who can teach this subject. 2) There aren't enough interested students to run a class within our school. 3) It is a valuable life skill and learning skill to know how to succeed as an online student. Note: Michigan passed a law this year requiring all students to participate in an "online experience" before they can be awarded a diploma.