Not true!
Apparently some students are under the misimpression that if they take a class during the summer it will be easier. That is far from true in my classes. They will do just as much work but it will be squeezed into ten weeks instead of fifteen. I have fifteen weekly discussion activities in a regular semester. In a ten week semester I have exactly the same fifteen weekly discussion activities and several of them are doubled up. I had to work hard to make that possible since some discussions are follow-ups from the previous week. But, I was able to do it.
Of course the schedule looks a bit odd with double activities for some weeks. Students have to stay on top of things. I tried to pace the class such that we take it easy at the beginning and then the double weeks kick in after everyone is onboard. I like to condition them to the difficulty and then ease off after they know how to work hard.
It does not seem to matter how much you tell students about this at the beginning of the semester. Some of them still seem to expect to be able to take a couple of weeks off to go camping or some such. One of my colleagues expressed an opinion that many of these students are coming from high schools where the online medium is a place for the underachievers. Maybe they are getting used to a lot of soft deadlines and reduced requirements from that experience.
The students who work hard in my classes do quite well. They often earn A’s. But they have to put out the effort to earn those grades. Summer is not easy in my class. It is just as difficult as a regular fifteen week semester and more intense because of the compressed schedule.
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Summer is not easy! In fact, it is more difficult than a full semester.
ReplyDeleteI advise students to work ahead of schedule if they will be gone for a few or a few days. Some follow the rules, and others do not.
After teaching for over 20 years, I find the following to be true over and over again: "the disciplined students do well, the undisciplined do not do well.
If I had one thing to teach my children, it would be discipline.
As Mary does, I also give students the option to work ahead of schedule, particularly if they are planning a trip. One thing they cannot do is participate in the discussions ahead of time. But allowing students to post their work early allows me to say categorically that I don't accept late work, but if you plan ahead you can indeed enjoy a trip without missing much of the class.
ReplyDeleteYes, students shorter sessions tend to score lower than those in the 16 week sessions and more of them drop the course when they see that the pace is accelerated.