A new course approved by the Council on Academic Affairs Thursday will give returning adult students the opportunity to boost their confidence and refresh their writing skills.

The course, Educational Foundations 2985, is a sophomore-level course required of all students in the Board of Trustees Bachelor’s Degree Program, a program for students above the age of 25 that are returning to college to complete a degree that they had left unfinished, Lorretta Woodward, BOT degree program director, said Wednesday.

Other students wishing to enroll in the course may register with permission from the instructor.

“The real intent of the course is to engage adult students more quickly to the education process, and provide them with information and skills on how to be successful,” Woodward said.

The adult students “apply for the program and are excited, but then they get here and become fearful of the competitive atmosphere,” Woodward said. “We want them to know that they can be successful, and help ease them into that.”

Writing communication skills will be the focus of the course, Woodward said, and the class is a writing-intensive course.

The course will also teach learning and study strategies and styles that will build the students’ confidence and help them manage their time.

“Many of these students have families and jobs that don’t allow them as much time to complete assignments or be on campus,” Woodward said. “This course will prepare them in time management and study priorities.”

The course, which begins in the fall 2002, will be taught in the classroom as well as over the internet. The classroom section will be taught over two weekends with a span of about three weeks between the weekend meetings. Those would be on a Friday night and an all-day Saturday session, Woodward said.

The online sections would last for six weeks with materials updated once a week, Woodward said.

The council raised concern that some adult students may lack the computer knowledge that will be needed to complete assignments on the internet.

Woodward assured CAA that although computer skills will not be taught in the class, she would walk them through the process.