3.2 Courses & Sequences

Each semester during PathwayConnect, students take a prescribed curriculum:

See 3.2.1 Course Descriptions for specific details about each course

Academic Courses

PathwayConnect’s academic courses include the following:

PC 101 Life Skills (3 Credits). Students discover how to use education to improve their lives by studying learning strategies, time and financial management, thinking errors, and talent development.

PC 102 Professional Skills (3 Credits). Students strengthen career skills, learn decision making strategies , practice professional communication, and collaborate with others to solve problems.

PC 103 University Skills (1 Credit). Students discover and strengthen the skills they need for continued success throughout a university degree program.

Gateway Certificate Course (2-3 Credits). During the third and final semester of PathwayConnect, students will begin working on the first certificate that will ultimately lead to their future bachelor’s degree. Students will select which certificate to take during their second semester of PathwayConnect.

L Courses

The PathwayConnect Standard and L courses are nearly identical. This is because the PathwayConnect program invites all learners to achieve the same academic objectives each semester. The L courses support English language learners as they reach these objectives. This support includes the following elements:

• A weekly listening and speaking assignment where students spend 30 minutes listening to English and 30 minutes speaking English with a discussion partner of their choosing. Note this is the only graded item that L students do above their Standard student counterparts.
• A trained instructor who can help students diagnose and improve their English writing
• A section size of 40 (standard size is 50), which allows more time for the instructor to give feedback 

Both Standard and L courses include the following helps:

• Weekly lists of key vocabulary terms with optional vocabulary quizzes
• Nearly two-dozen optional grammar lessons and quizzes
• The language used to write the course, its instructions, exercises, etc., has been carefully reviewed so it is not excessively complex. This has resulted in a course whose language is more accessible to a global audience.

Because of the near-identical nature of the Standard and L courses, they both carry a weight of 3 credit hours. To get into L, students take a placement exam where they must score within given parameters.

Religion Courses

Domestic PathwayConnect students ages 18-30 as well as international students of all ages take a credit-bearing institute course each of the three terms they are enrolled in PathwayConnect at no extra cost. Available courses vary at each institute location. All inquiries about institute credit should be made to the student’s local institute of religion. Should these students not have reasonable access to credit-bearing institute, students will be eligible for PathwayConnect completion anyway. In such cases, no religion credit will transfer with the student continuing to an online degree program from BYU-Idaho, supported by BYU-Pathway.

Domestic students aged 31 and over take a BYU-Idaho religion class each of the three terms they are enrolled in PathwayConnect. The courses are taken in the order given below:

• RELPC 250C Jesus Christ and the Everlasting Gospel (2 Credits). This course focuses on the eternal ministry of Jesus Christ and His divine roles and teachings throughout His pre-mortal, mortal, and post-mortal life. You are invited to deepen your love for and testimony of Jesus Christ and to become a more devoted disciple.
• RELPC 200C The Eternal Family (2 Credits). This course centers on The Family: A Proclamation to the World and develops gospel doctrines and principles pertaining to a successful and happy marriage and family life. Every two weeks, students will focus on a different paragraph or two of the proclamation and study scriptures and talks pertaining to those paragraphs. 
• RELPC 275C The Teachings and Doctrine of the Book of Mormon (2 Credits). Come unto Christ by reading, studying and applying the teachings of the Savior as found in the Book of Mormon. 

The following institute courses are transferable to BYU-Idaho:
Cornerstone Classes

• 200 The Eternal Family
• 225 Foundations of the Restoration
• 250 Jesus Christ and the Everlasting Gospel
• 275 Teaching and Doctrine of the Book of Mormon

Primary Elective Classes

• 121 Book of Mormon
• 122 Book of Mormon
• 130 Missionary Preparation
• 211 New Testament
• 212 New Testament
• 215 Scripture Study: The Power of the Word
• 301 Old Testament
• 302 Old Testament
• 324 Doctrine and Covenants
• 325 Doctrine and Covenants
• 327 Pearl of Great Price
• 333 Teachings of the Living Prophets
• 341 Church History
• 342 Church History
• 343 Church History

Secondary Elective Classes

• 390R Preparing for an Eternal Marriage
• 390R Building an Eternal Marriage
• 390R Introduction to Family History
• 390R Doctrines of the Gospel
• 390R The Restored Gospel and World Religions
• 390R The Restored Gospel and Christian History
• 390R The Book of Isaiah

PathwayConnect students move through the courses as a group known as a cohort. Cohorts are usually led by the same missionaries from one semester to another. Cohorts can be powerful influences for the support and success of a student. Students should avoid moving out of a cohort unless they need to in order to repeat a course.