Re: 18weekvs16weeksemester

[Joel Rauber <Joel_Rauber@SDSTATE.EDU>]

You need to be very careful in comparing quarter systems to semester systems


> because the Ohio Board of Reagents has made a statement, I believe a
> standard school year is now considered to be 30 actual class weeks.  This
> can be broken into three quarters of 10 class weeks or two semesters of 15
> class weeks.  Holidays and exam days may be necessary, but they
> don't count.

This seems to imply that a year of physics is about the same for two types
of systems.

(While individual institutions may vary) my direct experience was as
follows.

I took beginning physics in a quarter system, 10 class-weeks a quarter, I
teach a year of physics in about 28 class-weeks (like Michael); so two are
roughly the same with the semester system losing by a bit.

Actual situation:  the standard lecture portion of the course meets three
hours a week for a total of 84 lecture hours in a year of physics for our
semester system. (Actually, depending on the year, its 82-84 lecture hours.

The standard course at my undergraduate institution met 4 lectures a week.
So the year of physics at our institution had 120 lecture hours.  The
quarter system had 3/2 times the physics than the semester version.  Or in
others words, my experience is that very roughly one semester of a course is
about equal to 1 quarter of a course.

> Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.              Phone/voice-mail:
> 419-358-3270
> Professor of Chemistry & Physics        FAX:
> 419-358-3323
> Chairman, Science Department            E-Mail
> edmiston@bluffton.edu
> Bluffton College
> 280 West College Avenue
> Bluffton, OH 45817

Joel Rauber
Joel_Rauber@sdstate.edu