I'm loosing track of whether I agree or disagree. But I'll respond to
what I think is Mike E's main point.
|
| Thus, I argued strongly against the change to semesters, but
| it wasn't semesters I was against, it was the shortening of
| the year I was against. In terms of class days and lab days,
| quarters and semesters are supposed to be the same. If that
| were true, then for a year-long course, who would care which
| system you are on?
|
| For me, I teach year-long physics and year-long physical
| chemistry as my "meat and potatoes" courses, so there should
| not have been any difference if the calendar change had been
| done properly. I also teach one-term astronomy and one-term
| linear electronics. Those courses are actually a little
| nicer on the semester system, but not as nice as they would
| be if we had the full 15 weeks.
|
My point is that hardly ever do the class days get changed so they are
the same. I'm sure there are counter-examples, but the impression I
have gotten over the years is that the 5 credit physics courses in the
quarter system becomes a 3 credit physics class in the semester system
(or 4 credits depending upon how lab sessions are counted).
So about 120 or more lecture hours during the year become about 85
lecture hours. (I'm ignoring the 2-3 hours per week spend on the lab
portion of the course in these numbers and comparisons. IMO, the lab
experience is about a wash under the two competing systems. It's the
lecture portion that concerns me.
I grant that if the number of lectures for the year stayed the same the
comparisons would be a lot closer; I'd still prefer quarters, but that
is simply the preference for fewer courses in more concentrated doses
that I have.
(Also, you would have the flexibility of offering to course sequences
that only use up 2/3rds of a year rather than the full year.)
_______________________________________________
Phys-L mailing list
Phys-L@electron.physics.buffalo.edu https://www.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l