Subject: Re: one day per week classes
From: BETH HENTGES (b.hentges@cctc.cc.mn.us)
Date: Thu Sep 07 2000 - 11:29:41 EDT
We recently switched from the 10 weeks + 1 week (plus holidays) quarter
system where many of our courses were 5 quarter-credits (50 hours of
class time) and met every day to the 15 + 1 semester system where many
of our courses are 3 credits (45 hours of class time) and meet 2 or 3
days a week. We definitely cut some topics from our courses. Also,
personal intuition suggests that our student's completion rates of our
courses has gone down.
With respect to summer courses, I believe that we get quite a
"different breed" of student in the summer. Likewise for night courses.
Those students are much more self-motivated than our day students.
During one semester, we taught Basic Mathematics (2 credits) the first
6 weeks of the semester followed by Elementary Algebra (3 credits) the
second 9 weeks. The courses themselves worked well, but we found that
the students enrolled in the Basic Mathematics Course were NOT the same
students who took the following course. Some of this surprise was due
to not restricting enrollment in the subsequent course to those who took
the condensed first course and was due to a seniority process with
respect to credit hours earned and when one registers. We have since
changed Basic Mathematics to a 3 credit course in the belief that we had
cut too much from that curriculum when it went from 5 quarter-credits
(50 hours of class time) to only 2 semester-credits (30 hours of class
time).
Beth Hentges
Century Community and Technical College
White Bear Lake, MN
>>> "Paula Castagna" <castagna_p@hotmail.com> 09/07 9:27 AM >>>
Bruce:
In my district, we have been investigating the 16-week semester. I had
our
researcher run a brief study on student grades and retention in
short-term
classes vs our normal 18-week classes. About 20% of our classes are
short-term (4-14 weeks) during the regular semester, so we did not
include
summer classes in the study. I don't have the numbers here at home, but
there was a significant increase in both retention rate and number of
grades
of C or better with the short term classes. I am convinced that we are
not
talking about reduced standards here.
As a result of the study, our math dept is going to increase the number
of
classes we offer during the regular semester on a 9-week basis (put
classes
back-to-back in the 18-week schedule). We will then see how that
effects
student success as measured by grades, retention rate and performance
in
further math classes on our campus. Since our schedule is done well in
advance, we are looking at this revised schedule for next fall.
Paula
Paula
>From: "Bruce Yoshiwara" <byoshiwara@hotmail.com>
>To: mathedcc@archives.math.utk.edu
>Subject: Re: one day per week classes
>Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 02:39:40 GMT
>
>A related issue:
>
>My school just switched from a 17 week semester + 1.5 weeks of final
exams
>to 15 week semester + 1 week of finals. (The total number of contact
hours
>remains constant because we lengthen each meeting time.) The main
reason
>was to attract more students, but a justification was that Santa
Monica
>College evidently has some numbers showing that students do better in
>shorter term classes.
>
>I believe the numbers indicate that students receive higher grades in
short
>term courses, in particular in the 5-6 week courses given in summer
and
>inter-sessions. I have suspicions about whether the populations
being
>compared are genuinely equivalent, but mostly I can't help but suspect
that
>the instructors have lowered their expectations. (Do literature
classes
>assign the same quantity of reading in shorter semesters?)
>
>Bruce Yoshiwara
>Los Angeles Pierce College
>
>>From: "Martha Haehl" <haehl@kcmetro.cc.mo.us>
>>To: "Todd Timmons" <ttimmons@systema.westark.edu>,
>><mathedcc@archives.math.utk.edu>
>>Subject: Re: one day per week classes
>>Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2000 17:32:39 -0500
>>
>>Todd,
>>
>>Let me know what you find out. It seems like a few years ago our
district
>>stats office said there was no difference in the success rate
(defined by
>>grades) in the 1 night a week format vs. 2. In general our math
faculty
>>did
>>not think the 1 night a week format was as good--however, in general
our
>>math faculty lectured for 2.5 hours those nights.
>>
>>I've taught classes that were scheduled for 2 - 3 hours a night that
met
>>twice a week. With the interactive strategies I use, I like the
longer
>>class. My most recent experience was tech math and I only had one
drop
>>and
>>no F's or D's--however, my students were a cohort of students in
>>apprenticeship programs--very hard-working and motivated--there all
of the
>>time, did homework, etc.
>>
>>Martha
>>
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: Todd Timmons <ttimmons@systema.westark.edu>
>>To: <mathedcc@archives.math.utk.edu>
>>Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2000 5:29 PM
>>Subject: one day per week classes
>>
>>
>> > Does anyone know of any research on mathematics courses that
>> > meet one day per week instead of the traditional 2 or 3? In
>> > particular, I am talking about a three hour college algebra
course
>> > that meets for 3 hours one time per week for a semester. I am
>> > interested if anyone had experience with this format, and
especially
>> > if any studies have been made.
>> >
>> > Thanks
>> >
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>> >
>> > Todd Timmons
>> > Westark College
>> > 5210 Grand Ave.
>> > Box 3649
>> > Fort Smith, AR 72913-3649
>> > 501-788-7630
>> > ttimmons@systema.westark.edu
>> >
>> >
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>> >
>> >
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