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Re: [Phys-L] Semester length and course structure

Weber State U. admin has done something similar to us. We started with
10-week quarters, then because a large private university down the road was
on semesters it was decided that we had to be on semesters too. (It was a
bit more complicated than that, but that was a driving factor.) That
changed us to two 15-week semesters.

30 weeks per academic year for both, sounds good. But, a 5-hr single-term
course (5 hr times 10 weeks = 50 contact hours) became a 3-hr single-term
course (3 * 15 is 45 contact hours) which was a 10% loss for courses like
PHYS 1010 and astronomy, etc.

Then, some genius in admin decided that we were not utilizing our
facilities well during the summer semester. Clearly it couldn't be the
obvious thing that students don't really want to take classes in the
summer, it must be caused by the summer semester being compressed. (We had
various models for class length for the shorter term, but it still came out
to about 45 contact hours.) So they then foisted upon us a system with
three identical terms. For this to work with semester breaks, exam weeks,
spring (one-week) and (one-day) fall breaks, etc. they shorted all the
semesters.

Turns out somewhere in accreditation land or federal regulations on
scholarships or something that there is a defined minimum number of weeks
that a school can have and still call it a semester. The result is that we
often have the last class of the semester on Monday of finals' week so that
they can count that "week" as an academic week.

For us, that means 14 weeks plus the odd extra Monday. The admin people
behind this were highly motivated to shorten the semester as much as
possible against faculty wishes. I'm guessing that 13.5 weeks will only be
legit because of the additional 3-week compressed term that is being
proposed in the start of this thread.

Since nothing of much value happens on that odd-ball Monday, we have a 14
week semester (with the loss of multiple Monday holidays and the Fall
semester loses a Friday to fall break and a Thur/Fri to Thanksgiving). The
result is that a typical MWF 3-hr class get about 39 contact hours.
Compared to a fall-quarter with the old holidays we had 48 contact hours.

That's a nearly 20% drop in class hours. The only sane response is a 20%
drop in content.

As for us, guess what happened to summer semester? Nothing significant. The
enrollment is about the same as it was in the past. but now we have fewer
weeks in our "normal" semesters.

John

- - - -
John E. Sohl, Ph.D.
Professor of Physics
Weber State University
1415 Edvalson St., Dept 2508
Ogden, UT 84408-2508

Office: TY 326
voice: (801) 626-7907
cell: (801) 476-0589

On Sat, Mar 3, 2018 at 10:00 AM, <phys-l-request@mail.phys-l.org> wrote:

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Today's Topics:

1. Re: Semester length and course structure (Bill Nettles)
2. Re: Semester length and course structure (Bill Nettles)


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Bill Nettles <bnettles@uu.edu>
To: "Phys-L@Phys-L.org" <Phys-L@phys-l.org>
Cc:
Bcc:
Date: Fri, 2 Mar 2018 19:43:03 +0000
Subject: Re: [Phys-L] Semester length and course structure
I'm not a person who curses, but this type of thing greatly vexes me. Why
does any sane educator think we can fit equivalent learning into 20% less
time? I feel sorry for you having to figure this out. Semesters were 16
weeks when I first started and now we're down to 13.5. I can't imagine
going to 12. Three week mini-terms are impossible in physics at the
undergraduate level unless you have highly-motivated A-level students!!!
Even then it won't involve senior level topics.

I'm sorry for the rant, but that action is worse than any physics textbook
errors which might be out there. At least we can correct those on the fly
when we encounter them.

Practically, you're going to have to leave out a lot of material. In the
introductory sequence, geometrical optics and magnetic fields are the first
to disappear. AC circuits probably wasn't there to begin with, but it's
gone, too, with a 12 week class. RC circuits, moment of inertia
calculations are next. It's really sad ... Of course, you could leave
everything in, pick up the pace, and leave 90% of the students in the dust
and hating physics. Sigh...

-----Original Message-----
From: Phys-l [mailto:phys-l-bounces@mail.phys-l.org] On Behalf Of Donald
Smith
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2018 8:01 PM
To: Phys-L@phys-l.org
Subject: [Phys-L] Semester length and course structure

Good evening,

This is perhaps a bit different from the usual type of question asked
here, but my college is about to switch from a 15 week semester to a
12 week semester combined with a 3 week mini-term in which students take
one, intensive, 3-credit class at a time. Does anyone here teach at a
school that has such a schedule? I would be interested to hear stories
about how you made it work for better physics instruction, or if you have
any horror stories that suggest what to avoid trying. I have some ideas
about short lab classes and computational physics projects, but I would
love to hear about what others have tried. If this forum isn't the right
venue for that conversation, I would welcome emails sent directly to me.

Thank you in advance,
--
Donald Smith
Guilford College Physics Department
http://class.guilford.edu/physics/dasmith
_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@mail.phys-l.org
http://www.phys-l.org/mailman/listinfo/phys-l



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Bill Nettles <bnettles@uu.edu>
To: "Phys-L@Phys-L.org" <Phys-L@phys-l.org>
Cc:
Bcc:
Date: Fri, 2 Mar 2018 19:51:55 +0000
Subject: Re: [Phys-L] Semester length and course structure
If you're teaching a physical science sequence, the approach to take is to
choose a central theme or topic and cram in physics principles. E.g., "The
Sun"

You can talk about mass, gravity, energy, thermo, light, spectral
analysis, rotational motion, nuclear and atomic phenomena, speed of light,
tides, conservation laws. If you need more, you could probably find
information about surface vibrations.

Or "Music"
Waves, energy, force, harmonic motion, mass, feedback mechanisms, spectral
analysis, ideal gas law, thermo, human physiology (ears, larynx, lungs),
human psychology and physics

-----Original Message-----
From: Phys-l [mailto:phys-l-bounces@mail.phys-l.org] On Behalf Of Donald
Smith
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2018 8:01 PM
To: Phys-L@phys-l.org
Subject: [Phys-L] Semester length and course structure

Good evening,

This is perhaps a bit different from the usual type of question asked
here, but my college is about to switch from a 15 week semester to a
12 week semester combined with a 3 week mini-term in which students take
one, intensive, 3-credit class at a time. Does anyone here teach at a
school that has such a schedule? I would be interested to hear stories
about how you made it work for better physics instruction, or if you have
any horror stories that suggest what to avoid trying. I have some ideas
about short lab classes and computational physics projects, but I would
love to hear about what others have tried. If this forum isn't the right
venue for that conversation, I would welcome emails sent directly to me.

Thank you in advance,
--
Donald Smith
Guilford College Physics Department
http://class.guilford.edu/physics/dasmith
_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@mail.phys-l.org
http://www.phys-l.org/mailman/listinfo/phys-l


_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@mail.phys-l.org
http://www.phys-l.org/mailman/listinfo/phys-l