Prefer a Classroom Setting?
Beginning this fall, Google will also offer for-credit IT support certificate classes at more than 25 community colleges in California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin. To facilitate the process, Google is giving a grant to JFF, a workforce-development nonprofit, which will help community colleges integrate this course into their usual IT offerings.
The course will be offered at community colleges as either a new standalone course or as a part of an existing IT course. A few of the colleges will also offer the course through their continuing education or noncredit programs. The colleges may choose to offer the course online or in a hybrid format that combines classroom and online learning.
Students can expect to pay the same as they would pay for similar courses at their local college, and the certificate will be provided at no extra cost.
The primary advantage to taking the course at a community college is that you’ll receive college credit, said Deborah Kobes, a director at JFF.
In addition, students will receive academic support and more hands-on instruction.
In the college course, in addition to the hands-on teaching, instructors may utilize the Coursera platform in place of a textbook and may use the assessments or tests from the online component to evaluate students’ progress.
“On the other hand,” Kobes said, “a student who enrolls in the certificate on their own would watch the Coursera videos and complete the assessments in the platform independently, without supplemental instruction and/or support from a college.”
Whether you choose to take the fully online course through Coursera or an in-person class at one of the participating community colleges, the IT support certificate and skills learned will be the same, Kobes said.
While not all of the community colleges have announced their involvement publicly yet, here are the ones we know are offering the IT support certificate course this fall:
California: Las Positas College, Cabrillo College and Diablo Valley College
Michigan: Grand Rapids Community College, Macomb Community College and Jackson College
New York: LaGuardia Community College, Monroe Community College and Mohawk Valley Community College
Ohio: Zane State College, Lakeland Community College, Eastern Gateway Community College, Stark State College, North Central State College, Cuyahoga Community College and Lorain County Community College
Texas: Lone Star College and Collin College