The deadline to take the online course Nformd on Sexual Assault has been extended for the rest of the academic year.

Although the deadline to take this online course, which students have been encouraged to take since the beginning of the semester, was Sept. 30, the Women’s Center coordinators are allowing students to continue to participate in it due to technical difficulties.

According to Juliette Grimmett, Women’s Center coordinator, Nformd on Sexual Assault was created this past summer and sent nationwide to universities for input.

N.C. State was one of a few universities in the nation selected to receive grant funding for the program.

This funding provides the University with the program, which costs $35,000, free for a year, according to Grimmett. “This program has some great benefits since one person cannot possibly do all the programming for the amount of students we have on campus,” Grimmett said. “Many incoming students haven’t had any sexual violence program, so this program makes sure every incoming student has some kind of consistent knowledge.”

Grimmett said she believes this baseline knowledge the students are receiving will be helpful in the future, if she decides to implement any other programs.

While there are many benefits to the program, there have also been some challenges with it.

“Since there is no one else there when you are doing the program, you lose that interaction. If you have a question, you are unable to get a human response,” Grimmett said. “There is also always the possibility of someone pulling up the module and then leaving to go do something else.”

Unlike the University’s other online course, AlcoholEdu, Nformd on Sexual Assault is not considered a requirement. According to Grimmett, the University has set it as more of an expectation for the students rather than a requirement.

Since the program was not required and wouldn’t hold back students from registering for classes, some students said they did not complete the module.

“I didn’t even bother to do the program since I knew it wasn’t a requirement,” Corinne Lee, a freshman in engineering, said.

The program was originally sent only to first-year students to complete, but Greek Life then decided to show it to a percentage of students from each chapter.

Nan Daniels, a freshman in accounting, said she was glad she took the course.

“I learned some interesting facts from it, and it was much more fun to watch than AlcoholEdu,” Daniels said.

However, several students had opposing views on the course.

“I thought it was a complete waste of time. Students know well enough on their own what rape is and don’t need a course to define if for them,” Andy Dixon, a freshman in First Year College, said.

Some students continue to complete the program, though. Out of all of the colleges that received the program to use this year, “our University had the highest percentage of students using it,” Grimmett said.