When Barbara Brown saw the length of her “World of Fiction” course in the fall schedule, she said she “thought it was a typo.” The class, which she teaches, was listed as meeting twice a week for two hours each meeting, a half hour longer per class than last year.
Brown said the University registrar’s office “cracked down” this year on four-credit classes meeting only three hours a week. She, and the rest of the GTFs in the comparative literature department had half an hour added to their classes.
Under new scheduling protocol implemented this year by the University, four-credit 300 or 400 level classes can meet for three hours of class time per week — instead of four — only if they have “sufficiently demonstrated lab or activities outside of class to warrant the additional credit hour beyond (classroom) contact,” according to the Registrar’s Web site.
Almost every University department is scheduling two-hour classes as part of the new protocol, both to meet contact guidelines and to offer more class meeting times, according to University Registrar Herbert Chereck.
The University implemented the new policy, he said, because the Gilbert Hall construction — set to start in February — will render 22 classrooms unavailable, increased enrollment demands more classes, and additional classes and less classrooms mean a longer teaching day is necessary.
Under the new protocol, Chereck said, the teaching day is divided into four “zones,” with a set percentage of classes scheduled for each zone. The new zones create classes earlier and later in the day than were typical, as well as other schedules, such as two-hour classes Mondays and Wednesdays.
Senior Amanda Horton said she doesn’t really mind her Business 316 class lasting two hours, because the professor only lectures for about 20 minutes before breaking into classroom activities.
She also said she doesn’t mind the prospect of more two-hour classes.
“I’d rather have classes all day during the week,” she said, “and then have Friday off.”
Andrew Ragland, a GTF teaching an accounting class, said he keeps his students’ interests by breaking up the class time between lecture and problem-solving activities. He acknowledged that other courses may not be able to accommodate this type of style.
“I think it’s really subject specific,” Ragland said. “You can make sure it’s not two hours of lecture. But with an English class that’s two hours of lecture and discussion, I’m not sure you can break it up, and two hours is a long time.”