tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post8817465356692963886..comments2024-03-25T02:33:41.590-05:00Comments on FemaleScienceProfessor: Quarter v. SemesterFemale Science Professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288567883197987690noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-33962851577365120842011-03-21T23:32:43.048-05:002011-03-21T23:32:43.048-05:00The problem with quarters in graduate school (huma...The problem with quarters in graduate school (humanities) is that you have to choose your research topic in the first week. If not, you will not be able to begin searching for documents, and books from interlibary loan will not come in in time to use. So, you don't get a lot of time to explore. <br /><br />I was on semesters for one year of undergraduate and it was a lot easier than quarters because of the flexibility. You could get sick for a few days and have it not affect your GPA, whereas on quarters it was essentially sayonara if you ever got behind at all.<br /><br />As faculty I am neutral on this. I don't get to repeat a lot of courses so it is nominally even less stable on quarters, more flurry, but actually it doesn't matter, it's just a different way of organizing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-69967844282014572582010-03-15T15:13:29.953-05:002010-03-15T15:13:29.953-05:00I was an undergrad on the semester system and have...I was an undergrad on the semester system and have been a faculty member only on the semester system, but I was on the quarter system throughout grad school, at two different institutions (in the 1960's.)<br /><br />I prefer quarters, as I think my attention span is only about ten weeks long. During a quarter, I could justify giving only one midterm and a final in lower level courses. However, on a semester system, I give three tests per term, plus a final. This comes to eight tests per year versus six on the quarter system. The last three weeks of a semester, everyone is tired and no one, faculty or student, is working at maximum capacity. <br /><br />Some semester courses naturally ought to be two quarters long so things are not rushed. Some can easily compress into one quarter. As another example, calculus works better as a five quarter sequence than a three semester sequence in which it is necessary to cut corners and skip material.Pagan Topologisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01611788563582362688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-77434740567623124222010-03-15T11:38:48.482-05:002010-03-15T11:38:48.482-05:00I'm going to go against what seems to be the m...I'm going to go against what seems to be the majority here, and say that I prefer semesters. As an undergrad, I went to a university that is well-known for difficult curriculum and heavy workload. Midterm and final exam/project periods, and the subsequent receiving of grades, were stressful enough when they only happened twice a year. Increase that to three times, and I think that I, and many of my friends, would have been in a state of constant panic.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-39913612030259224742010-03-14T23:29:02.538-05:002010-03-14T23:29:02.538-05:00I am struck by the variation in length of a quarte...I am struck by the variation in length of a quarter or semester! <br /><br />I had a 10 week quarter plus an exam week. The semesters I have seen run about 14 to 14.5 weeks, plus an exam week. These all use 50 minute hours. <br /><br />People undergoing a transition have my sympathies. The transition (what you do with a student who starts a sequence partway into the year or skips a term) is a nightmare, and it is only worse if the total number of instruction days is significantly less after the change.Doctor Pionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12513786840852469648noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-48924353478721658382010-03-14T23:19:12.915-05:002010-03-14T23:19:12.915-05:00I have taught in both systems, and I was an underg...I have taught in both systems, and I was an undergrad in a quarter system where the best feature was the ease of taking electives. <br /><br />From my current viewpoint, the other plus of the quarter system was that we actually had 30 weeks of instruction in a 9+ month school year, whereas our semester system is really lucky if it gets 29. You can do a lot in that extra week. <br /><br />One instructional plus of the quarter system is that you get down to serious students in 10 weeks instead of 15. <br /><br />An instructional minus is that it makes it easier for students to get by on utter memorization of the least learnable unit (student version of least publishable unit) than in a semester course.Doctor Pionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12513786840852469648noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-9675883739735893282010-03-14T04:31:09.361-05:002010-03-14T04:31:09.361-05:00I'm so damned old that as a student (in Europe...I'm so damned old that as a student (in Europe) I had only yearlong courses. Required load was four courses of 4hrs/week (or 6hrs including exercise sessions) times 23 (plus minus 2) weeks.<br />All the courses were Mathematics or Physics, with Physics being about 20% of the total. <br />I loved it, learned a lot, and kept taking extra courses both as an undergrad and as a grad student. Lots of time to digest the material and envision the big picture. But that has definitely gone the way of the dodo AFAIK.barbarahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07920729871547017890noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-41664279725851075022010-03-13T13:21:17.391-06:002010-03-13T13:21:17.391-06:00During TA training at $BIG_PUBLIC_UNIVERSITY, wher...During TA training at $BIG_PUBLIC_UNIVERSITY, where I'm a grad student, we were told that students on the quarter system tend to cheat more than students on the semester system. The explanation was that students are more likely to have multiple midterm exams at a time. <br /><br />Does anyone have any info about this?Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01387915082255616696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-52496394342890862252010-03-13T11:42:51.141-06:002010-03-13T11:42:51.141-06:00I was always on the semester system, but I don'...I was always on the semester system, but I don't think I would have done well under quarters. As an undergraduate I got a double major in physics and biochemistry. The one semester I took only science classes was my worst semester and my GPA suffered (even if you separate science and non-science classes.) I needed to take a non-science class to do well, and I even continued to do this in graduate school. I benefited from using a different part of my brain than I needed for science classes and having the structure of classes was more effective than just having something as a hobby. In most quarter systems, I don't think I could do that. I was never able to cram, either - I have good long term memory but not so good short term memory. I either have to learn something properly or it doesn't stick at all.<br /><br />Even in research, I benefit if I can change tasks. Taking a break lets me come back to a problem with a fresh perspective. I don't do well when I have to focus on one project alone for a long period of time, without a chance to think about something else. I know not everyone works like this - some people can't be productive unless they can focus on one task. I think the different systems benefit different students.Madscientistgirlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11211394943035339771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-58630199009799893672010-03-13T02:38:28.703-06:002010-03-13T02:38:28.703-06:00I preferred the 14 week Australian semester which ...I preferred the 14 week Australian semester which basically contained two "nothing" weeks (the start, and end), and usually a 6 week formal exam period after the semester.<br /><br />This is going the way of the dodo though.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-52706217992168413402010-03-12T22:21:06.515-06:002010-03-12T22:21:06.515-06:00I only ever experienced the block system first han...I only ever experienced the block system first hand (as an undergrad - where I'm from we don't have grad-student classes and I also haven't taught classes apart from TAing). Back then I found the blocks pretty intense. You cannot really afford to loose focus or it'll be time for another exam already. I think it's great for people who like the structure, but for people who would be fine planning their time on their own (and I would have been) it was less ideal. My undergrad years (first three) were pretty intense and full of classes 5 days a week from 9 to 5. I would have had a different undergrad experience if I had had a bit more freedom.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-57262789183638208922010-03-12T20:56:41.596-06:002010-03-12T20:56:41.596-06:00I'm at a school with quarters (the "Dartm...I'm at a school with quarters (the "Dartmouth" version, where we cram a semester into 10 weeks). The *only* good part is that, on the rare occasions that you have a toxic/bad/distinterested class, it's over sooner. But other than that, I am not a fan. The pace is super intense. As Sally mentioned, if you get sick or go out of town or miss more than one class, you're hopelessly behind. (This goes for professors as well as students!) There's very little time to develop material---sometimes I feel like I'm slinging material as fast as I can at the students, and it seems like I'm always either giving an exam or grading an exam. And Spring term is brutal---our midterm break is about the time when everyone else is getting out, so after May 1 no one, professors or students, wants to be there.acdalalhttp://acdalal.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-56166251895618052542010-03-12T20:42:11.064-06:002010-03-12T20:42:11.064-06:00I spent 6 years in the semester system and now I&#...I spent 6 years in the semester system and now I'm in my 5th year of the quarter system. Hands down I prefer the semester... not only as a student but as a teacher. <br /><br />As a student the 10 weeks forces course compression and results in weaker retention of material. It's too many different things covered too quickly and without depth. <br /><br />As a teacher the quarter is really only 8 weeks long, which is hardly enough to time get anything done before you must say farewell to your students. This may make it easier to forget that "one bad quarter" but it doesn't make it any easier to realize that you've got to do it again in a week. <br /><br />There's really no academic reason to support the quarter system, it's really been a financial decision about the # of courses that can be offered and increasing enrollemnt. It's a shame because it doesn't enhance learning and it severely limits superior teaching and course construction.fatedplacehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13711127341102704213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-66592745352692188152010-03-12T19:34:32.545-06:002010-03-12T19:34:32.545-06:00I liked quarters as an undergrad and a grad studen...I liked quarters as an undergrad and a grad student. I've only taught semesters (well, 14-week semesters at one place and 4-1-4 at another), but I think that, with my current teaching load (6 courses + all associated labs per year), I would really be exhausted at the end of the one-week spring break. (Grading for two classes plus prep for two classes in one week... eek!)Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07738706550175991130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-52158954292328028432010-03-12T15:45:36.600-06:002010-03-12T15:45:36.600-06:00Student and Grad Student, loved quarters. Now facu...Student and Grad Student, loved quarters. Now faculty, on semester. Am happy to not have to do three sets of mid-terms, finals, etc. And for teaching grad courses, I don't feel that rushed and can go into detail. On the other hand there are other times I wish we were on quarter.<br /><br />As FSP said, both formats have their advantages and disadvantagessiznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-47067920438064055242010-03-12T15:45:36.599-06:002010-03-12T15:45:36.599-06:00I was on semesters as an undergrad at a small priv...I was on semesters as an undergrad at a small private school and quarters as a graduate student at a large research university.<br /><br />It might be just me (or the fact that I am comparing two drastically different schools at two different stages in my academic career), but I felt like I had a heavier load on the quarter system. All of the subject material was crammed into a shorter time period with less time to process it, and exams and homework sets were coming at me left and right. I found it hard to breathe at times. <br /><br />That said, I did like that spring break was actually a break, and not time to play catch up (like it was on semesters).<br /><br />What really got to me was that pesky third quarter. Because I was used to semesters, I was used to two sets of midterms, two sets of finals, two sets of projects, etc., per academic year. Then I got to grad school and somehow managed to survive the first two quarters, but WHAM! they wanted to torture me with one more set of midterms, finals, and projects. I was mentally exhausted after that first year and my GPA suffered.<br /><br />I too am at Enormous and Massive State U., and I have to say that I think the students are lucky they're going from quarters to semesters, and not the other way around.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-14661588100136840662010-03-12T15:38:29.059-06:002010-03-12T15:38:29.059-06:00Quarters, definitely. I feel myself running out o...Quarters, definitely. I feel myself running out of steam right around the end of 10 weeks, which really stinks when you are on the semester system. the last few weeks drag. I also prefer starting later in the fall (but I don't have to deal with field work, either).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-43432288364902630232010-03-12T14:58:54.789-06:002010-03-12T14:58:54.789-06:00Semester, any day. I has semesters as an undergrad...Semester, any day. I has semesters as an undergrad, and I've never bought the point about boring classes getting over faster as an argument for the quarter system -- I loved every one of my classes and was never happy about them ending. I'm a grad student in the quarter system now. I hated it when I was taking classes, because everything seemed to rush by in an intense fury before I could get a good hold on it, and left me little to no time for research. As a TA, it's hard to measure how much progress the students have made in under 10 weeks -- it just like a race to get work done rather than understanding and enjoying the material. The only thing that's good about quarters for undergrads is that spring break is a real break free of assignments.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-6769066091096958112010-03-12T14:02:30.259-06:002010-03-12T14:02:30.259-06:00block plan is the winner all around...so long as f...block plan is the winner all around...so long as faculty are only teaching one course per traditional semester.bikemonkeynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-16942744156369882812010-03-12T14:00:57.274-06:002010-03-12T14:00:57.274-06:00I have only ever been a student under the quarter ...I have only ever been a student under the quarter system, and I loved it because it meant that I got to take more classes, plus any class I didn't like was over soon enough. (I was a double major, actually, and took four classes per quarter plus several more in the summers.) <br /><br />However, now that I am on the instructor side of the fence, I see that 1) I always have more material to cover than I can fit into a given semester, much less a quarter and 2) students here never take more than 4 classes per semester, so they do in fact end up having far fewer classes total... and lots of them are probably grateful for this (although I wouldn't have been).Katemonsterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08996019407978388758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-16920766086064779872010-03-12T13:53:34.944-06:002010-03-12T13:53:34.944-06:00As one of the 'Anonymous' previously menti...As one of the 'Anonymous' previously mentioned, I too, work for Massive State U in the process of transitioning from quarters to semesters. I don't know how that other individual feels, but I feel this is being rammed down the throats of both faculty and students without representation. We were told that 'studies show students can learn effectively on both systems', which to me means we shouldn't change. Having conversations with many different faculty shows a great range of diversity in thoughts toward this change. In general, faculty in the humanities seem to want this change in order to facilitate reading larger books and/or coving current literature in greater depth. Faculty in the sciences are generally against this change because many sciences seem to 'package' quite smoothly on the quarter system. <br /><br />Personally, I would prefer we remain on the quarter system. Administration has already told us our teaching load (per term) will increase. Lovely, I can't wait for that. I have 2-3 classes per quarter for 3 of the 4 quarters with my quarter 'off' only having 1 class. So to maintain that load on the semester system (6-9 per year) that means I'll be teaching 4 classes per semester?! Where will research fit? How about prep time? How will I keep current and be willing to try new techniques in my classes with so many more preparations per term? If we have larger classes (as is assumed due to classroom space) how will I be able to try a new technique? Where will the incentive be for me to try something other than the 'down and dirty' lecture? (an entire other topic...) <br />All that aside, I'm going along as I have no choice and honestly trying to make my curriculum the best it can be given that I feel this is honestly detrimental to the learning that can occur!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-14970331031424194682010-03-12T13:21:59.705-06:002010-03-12T13:21:59.705-06:00@thm:
Spring Break isn't necessarily a given....@thm:<br /><br />Spring Break isn't necessarily a given. My son attends a community college on the quarter system and he gets exactly two days (one weekend) between Winter & Spring quarters. And yes, he does have finals all the way up through Friday! He is a bit envious of those of us on the semester system...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-83907487474446459622010-03-12T13:01:44.126-06:002010-03-12T13:01:44.126-06:00As a grad student, we had quarters, and I liked it...As a grad student, we had quarters, and I liked it because once I was in my research and just taking the occasional class for breadth I didn't have to commit to too much for that class. I've also seen schools where the grad programs work on half-semesters for some classes.<br /><br />As a faculty member at an undergraduate institution with a heavy teaching load, however, I hate quarters. If I taught only 1-2 classes per quarter, quarters would be fun for variety. But when you teach a lot of classes, and when the content of some of those classes is mandated to be quite heavy (we are required to cover an insane amount in 10 weeks of intro physics, even more than most schools), having to do prep 3 times a year, grade finals 3 times a year, and go through first and last week 3 times a year, all that is heavy.<br /><br />Even if we had to cover the same amount of material in 2 semesters instead of 3 quarters, at least we would get back 2 weeks of the year. The first and last weeks are always different in a large freshman class. With a small group of seniors who know the drill and know you, you can just start lecturing on day 1 after a few minutes of "I'm me, here's the syllabus, here's the book, and my office hours are listed." With 100 freshmen who don't know the system, you need to be more explicit about a lot of things, because they don't know what's what, and with that many people whom you don't know individually you can't start making exceptions. So day 1 has a good chunk on policy.<br /><br />And with all of the pedagogical bells and whistles used in intro physics these days, day 1 also has a lot of "The online homework system is here. Yes, you have to remember your access code. Yes, you actually have to use it. And clickers are bought from the bookstore. Yes, you have to register it so I know which response is from yours." And so forth.<br /><br />And then there's the crowd of people trying to add the class in the first week. So the roster keeps changing, and so there's always a horde of people asking the same questions that we went over on day 1.<br /><br />So the first week is really a lost week pedagogically. Give me semesters instead of quarters, and I've just gained a week to cover material. And if you spend half of the last week on review, then going to semesters give me almost 2 entire extra weeks.<br /><br />Or you could change the curriculum so we cover fewer chapters per quarter, like every other school in the country, but that's a non-starter.Alexnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-58079608210272861462010-03-12T12:45:57.238-06:002010-03-12T12:45:57.238-06:00Here's a morbid perspective: to me, a big draw...Here's a morbid perspective: to me, a big drawback of quarters is that if you get sick, you fall behind very quickly. An attack of gastroenteritis as a sophomore left me missing >1/10 of the material in all five classes that term.<br /><br />Now I teach semester classes, so the bad flu season wasn't such a disaster for our students--or the faculty, many of whom were also sick.Sallynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-19391326002338699382010-03-12T12:14:04.082-06:002010-03-12T12:14:04.082-06:00Missing from this discussion is that there are two...Missing from this discussion is that there are two different quarter systems in the US.<br /><br />The more common one has students taking 4 or 5 courses, each of which is about 10/13th of a semester course.<br /><br />The Dartmouth or semester-in-a-quarter system has students taking only 3 courses at a time, but each course is a full semester's worth of material squeezed into a quarter.<br /><br />Teaching loads are often higher at schools that do the "Dartmouth" system, since the minimum teaching load is usually 1 or 2 courses a quarter, which translates to 3-6 semester courses a year.<br /><br />I've experienced both sorts of quarter systems, but not semesters. Personally, I prefer having 3 intense classes to 5 less intense ones, but I can see that this will vary depending on personality. I might even like the block system (which seems to be more common in Europe than in the US), though I'm not sure how big projects and wet-lab courses would be done that way---some things just take time and having only one thing to do doesn't speed them up.Kevinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14528751349030084532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-34844392333082383132010-03-12T11:55:50.485-06:002010-03-12T11:55:50.485-06:00I currently teach at an "Enormous State Unive...I currently teach at an "Enormous State University" that is transitioning from quarters to semesters.<br /><br />Students will lose a LOT after this transition:<br /><br />(1) They will have to complete their degree in 8 semesters, not 12 quarters. They'd better know what they want to study from the beginning or they'll be here for 5 years.<br /><br />(2) Because of the large enrollments in service courses, we will have to decrease laboratory instruction time to once per week from twice per week. No one is giving us more classrooms or more TAs, so we will have to go with less time. There goes the quality.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com