Welcome to Independent Learning
This can be one of your most rewarding educational experiences. It is an opportunity to further your education without the constraints of class attendance or the traditional semester time period. Independent Learning differs from the traditional classroom because you will be responsible for planning and completing your own course work. In the traditional classroom, the teacher directs the learning process, but in Independent Learning, you must be self-directed, and you must plan your time wisely to get the most out of your study activities.
Flexibility is a unique advantage of Independent Learning but it is not a short-cut to receiving college credit; Independent Learning demands hard work. Remember that these are college-level credit courses paralleling on-campus courses which require fourteen weeks of classroom time in addition to homework study. For every hour spend in-class students are expected to study for 3-hours outside of class. Its not unusual to spend 3-6 hours per assignment.
All CDE courses have been approved by revelant academic departments of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) for course content and instructor qualifications. All credit courses are applicable to UAF degree and certificate programs. If you have questions about the requirements that your course might fulfill towards a program or degree or questions about specific department policy, please contact your advisor or the UAF advising department at http://www.uaf/edu/acadadv. CDE also asks it students to strictly adhere to the Student Code of Conduct.
Please be sure that you have planned on plenty of time between enrolling in the course, actually beginning the coursework, taking the last exam, requesting a transcript if you wish the grade to be accepted at another institution/agency, and your deadline. Although the staff and faculty will do everything possible to help you, a lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency for the staff and faculty!
CDE cannot supply official transcripts, these requests need to be ordered from the UAF Records office. When requesting an official transcript, please keep in mind that at busy times (April, May, June, September and December), it may take a few weeks to process your request.
When you have received your final grade you will be asked to complete a course evaluation. Please take a few moments to complete the form and mail it back to us. This will help us to continue to improve our courses and services.