5 week sessions
In responding to a previous thread it occurred to me that does Attrition statistics factor in a 5 week session over an 11 week or quarter/semester based curriculum. This is an extremely accelerated pace, if students are working full time or have other responsibilities, wouldn't more time throughout the session be desired?
Jingxi,
The objectives, materials and students are certainly vital factors to determine the appropriate length for a course. Very good points.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
I taught the same courses for both 10 week sessions and 5 week sessions. It depends on the materials of the course, the students and what goals the course is trying to achieve. Since most of our online students are adults who are not very skilled quantitatively, so for courses that need a lot of math, it is almost impossible to have a 5 week course. there are no enough time for the students to absorb what they learned even in a 11 week course (from my onground school).
But for some courses, 5 weeek is fine, 10 week feels like a drag.
Jingxi
Devon,
This is what many institutions like to use with the employed, parent students who have very busy lives. It seems to keep the students' required focus on school to a manageable scope. However, it usually intesifies the work for the one class when schools use this model because the classes are often provided in an accelerated format to meet Title IV timeframes. Like you stated, "every student is different" and this works better for some than it does for others.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
I think every student is different, but focusing on one class at a time I think will make the student more successful rather than taking many classes.
The workload in the 5 week session is the same as the 11 week session? Students could then juggle two classes instead of one. Either students like to focus intensely on one subject or they like the diversity of two classes AND they like to have a bit more time to allow concepts to be absorbed.
Wow Heather,
I only have one son and I also went back to school to get my degree. I also worked but I did not have 7 children. Good for you! I know how hard it was with one.
I have found this to be a big problem. Approximately half of my students will turn in late assignments up to the last week.
I agree my school offers this program to the students and the students enrolled in this program have a little bit of time so they manage themselves effectively.
Students are aware of the length of the course and I stress from the start that they are very fast pace.
I have taught several courses that have been 5.5 weeks and I was surprised to see one course is a 6 hour credit course. As you can probably guess = many assignments.
Marybeth
Wow! Good for you! I agree with you that commitment and dedication are two very important for the adult learner to be successful.
I was a student myself in an accelerated program - I can tell you that it was very time consuming and strenuous. The university explained that up front so there were no secrets there. If you make a commitment to start a program and you find that it is too much for you, it is up to you to find a different program for you that suits your busy lifestyle. The choice is yours. I have seven children, work full time and I still chose to go back to school and finish my degree a few years back - I graduated with high honors, a 4.0 GPA and worked extremely hard for those grades. There were others in the cohort that did not fair so well and had fewer obligations than I did. It can be done if the dedication and commitment is there. It's all up to the student.
You bring up a great point David--the shorter the class, the more challenging it might be for students that are not organized or like to procrastinate. That certainly needs to be part of the academic advising before a student enrolls in a short online class like that.
I think that an issue of perception relating to the combination of a student who doesn't like school, likes to procrastinate, and wants to get done as soon as possible come together that the shorter classes look like they create problems for students.
If they don't want to study, and are likely to put off school work, the pace of faster classes can make that a harder problem to overcome once it gets started. There isn't time for a lazy week, and then be able to recover later since you've missed week one, and are behind on content for week 2 and now half the class is over. After week 2 in a traditional class you are usually gearing up to take the first quizzes or midterms.
I think for many of the students who take them they are a good thing. I remember being frustrated by some of my online classes since students had to slow down pacing to make the discussions last two weeks, but not make more than the 3 or 4 posts we were allowed to make per topic. I would have preferred to discuss the content in more detail, and then move on more quickly.
I agree with James. The 5 week sessions have an awful lot of information cramed into them. You have to be motivated and eager to learn. Time seems to be a large factor in all our lives anymore and it is especially so in full time employees with families. A desire for bettering yourself is a must, along with being faithful to your learning in 5 week courses.
When I was in college, I enjoyed my summer session courses because I could really dive deep into the subject quickly because we met so often. Of course, that wasn't in the online setting but rather in a traditional classroom.
This is what I have seen as well. In the 5 1/2 week classes that I teach I have had students that would prefer the 11 week classes just because they have the same number of assignments but get more time to get them done.
My experience with taking 5 1/2 week classes a few times is that when you get in those classes that aren't your favorite they go by really quick.
Certainly there are things that come up in a student's life that are out of the control of the instructor (or student for that matter), but I would imagine that your institution doesn't expect you to have 0% attrition to allow for things like that--or am I wrong?
I teach 5.5 week sessions and I'm measured on my student attrition rates compared to other instructores - which I don't necessarily think is fair. It's very easy for a student to fall behind if he has a busy week at work or a child is ill. On the other hand, 5.5 weeks of concentrated effort is a good pace if nothing else gets in the way. Longer sessions could cause students to lose motivation and interest - especially if they're not doing well.
