When Tom Chibucos, professor of Family and Consumer Sciences, heard the request for faculty members to teach online courses to hurricane victims, he knew he had to volunteer.

“Everybody’s got to try to do something,” Chibucos said.

The University is offering 10 free online courses through the Sloan Semester program for students nationwide affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Chibucos wanted to participate in the program to help provide a way for these students to remain in school.

Teaching the extra course will be worth it, “if you can get at least a few students to remain in the University,” Chibucos said.

Beginning today, Chibucos will be teaching child development in an eight-week accelerated semester that ends Dec. 12.

He plans to teach the course with the same structure and syllabus he is using for his current on-campus child development class.

The only adjustment for the online course will be that class discussions will take place over an online discussion board instead of in class.

The Sloan Semester students will still have to take three exams and complete the same assignments as his on-campus students.

Chibucos believes this approach will be more helpful to the Sloan Semester students than restructuring the class to make it much easier for them.

“I don’t think it would help them much if you totally water it down,” Chibucos said.

According to Connie Molnar, director of IDEAL in the Department of Continuing and Extended Education, the University originally heard about the program from the Ohio Learning Network.

The University was interested in the program and decided to participate because it’s a way for the University to help based on what it already provides.

“One of the ways we can help as an educational institution is by offering education,” Molnar said.

And the response to the program from faculty and staff was very impressive, according to Molnar.

Two days after she sent out memos and e-mails about the program to deans, chairs, and directors, Molnar received offers for about 60 courses to be taught through the online program, although only 10 courses were needed from BGSU.

The 10 volunteer faculty will be teaching the online classes on top of their regular course loads and will receive small stipends as pay from the Sloan Consortium, which is in charge of the program.

But the University is not just offering these extra courses.

A tuition fee-waiver was approved by the Board of Trustees so students can take the courses free-of-charge.

According to Patti Giglio, press representative for the Sloan Semester program, the Sloan Consortium was already composed of universities that offer online courses, but the Sloan Semester was created specifically to help hurricane victims.

“We hope to create a bridge to students who have been displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita until they can return to their home institutions,” Giglio said.

Students who are eligible for the program include those who were displaced by the hurricanes or whose universities were closed because of damage, according to Giglio.

National guard members whose units were called up to help with relief efforts are also eligible for the program, she said.

The close to 1,000 students can sign-up for courses from any of the participating institutions.

About 200 universities and community colleges are offering a combined total of about 2,000 classes.

Molnar said that, in talking to students who will be taking courses from the University, she has found the students to be very grateful for the opportunity to take these courses.

“In every conversation with them, they thank me many times,” she said.

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