Tech Offering ASL Dual Enrollment Course

Tennessee Tech will offer a new American Sign Language course for dual enrollment students across the state.

The program is an online course high school students can take in the upcoming school year. Assistant Director of Admissions Ted McWilliams said the course is schedule-friendly for students. McWilliams said Tech expanded the dual enrollment program and ASL allowed them to offer a unique variety of languages.

“These students have an opportunity to one, satisfy a foreign language requirement,” McWilliams said. “Two, take it from a great institution like Tennessee Tech, take it online, and to have it paid for by the Tennessee state’s Dual Enrollment Grant.”

The course does count as a foreign language credit for high school students who need a foreign language credit to graduate high school. McWilliams said learning ASL could benefit a student as it stands out to companies on a resume.

“It would be a great thing to you know, help a lot of people who have hearing impairments or are deaf and such,” McWilliams said. “This can add an extra thing to the student’s resume, that makes them more attractive to a company.”

McWilliams said the course allows students considering college after high school to experience Tech’s online program.

“If they are considering 4-year college after high school,” McWilliams said. “It gives them an opportunity to see the quality of Tennessee Tech’s online program.”

The course does not require a textbook as manuals are readily available. McWilliams said ASL could be easier to learn than other languages as students would not have to learn a new grammar structure. The Dual Enrollment program will offer ASL I and ASL II.

The classes will begin this fall.