University introduces mini-term courses

By: Lauren Rovira / Staff Writer

For the first time in its history, the University is offering students a winter mini-term to students.

The intensive program is 13 days long, making it shorter than the half summer terms. Students, who apply to take a course during this term, will be in school Monday through Friday from Dec. 14 through Jan 5, 2012, with the exception of the days the University closes for the holidays.

Students are only allowed to choose one of the 15 courses being offered during this term. The courses are available in one of three time slots and run for approximately three and a half hours.

“Prior to our designating the times for these courses, we asked students to submit a survey regarding whether or not they would like to take these courses and at what time they thought would be best to take them,” said University Provost Douglas Wartzok.

Out of 1,500 students, approximately 1,000 students said ‘yes’ and would take up the opportunity if presented.

“I’m excited because I’ve wanted to take courses that I can’t seem to fit during the Spring or Fall semesters,” said Claudia Vega, sophomore sociology and anthropology major. “Summer is a great opportunity to catch up, take some electives and explore other interests. I see this new winter session as another opportunity to do the same.”

Jeffrey Gonzalez, associate vice president of Planning and Institutional Effectiveness in the University’s division of Academic Affairs, said by the morning of the second day enrollment was open for the winter mini-term, 200 students had already signed up.

“Students are interested,” he said, “that’s good.”

Moreover, students identified 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. as the best morning time, 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the later afternoon as the second best time and midday 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. after that. There will be seven, five and three courses taught in the aforementioned time slots, respectively.

Besides these courses there will be 11 more offered online.

“This winter term is primarily meant to increase graduation rate,” Wartzok explained, “there are certain courses that students need that fill up quickly, and it poses a problem. This will give students the opportunity to move more quickly.”

The winter courses are available to all students enrolled in a degree-seeking, undergraduate program who possess at least a 2.5 GPA at the beginning of fall.

“We started discussing this late summer, and we talked to the deans so they could ask their faculty about what courses they felt would fit into this condensed time frame,” explained Wartzok. “This is a trial; it’s not part of any teaching contract. We asked faculty to volunteer courses needed for students’ degree programs.”

Astrid Arraras, professor and advisor for the International Relations department, will teach during the winter term.

“This is a great opportunity for students to take classes, especially those that are in high demand,” Arraras said. “But it’s a challenge because it’s very intense; it’s very short.”

The challenges this will pose professors who will teach during the winter term will affect everything in the classroom.

“How do we adjust our syllabi to meet the demands of such a short term?” Arraras asked. “This is something I’m facing right now. What you cover, and what you expect students to read has to change.”

The short term will also affect how professors assess students.

“We can’t give the students two exams and a paper as is custom in a 13 day span,” Arraras said.

Besides the College of Business that completely opted out of the program due to an inability of finding willing faculty, most of the other colleges are participating. Only regular faculty will be teaching during this term as this is a pilot program for the University.

While this winter mini-term is unique to the University in Florida, there are schools out of state with a similar program.

“We looked around [and] the staff found about a half dozen other universities that had classes during a winter term,” said Wartzok. “We haven’t heard that any of the schools were going to discontinue the program,” he explained, “but we did find that some focused on condensed study abroad. If this works out this year, we are looking at possibly trying that next year.”