Although the Ohio University Board of Trustees is yet to approve a transition from quarters to semesters, a committee is already working out the details for a 2012 switch.
The Quarters to Semesters Transition Team, made up of 18 voting and 12 non-voting members, is trying to prepare blueprints for departments and schools to help them change their curriculum
said co-chairman David Descutner, associate provost for undergraduate education and dean of University College.
Tom Carpenter, team co-chairman and head of Classics and World Religions, said he would be surprised if the board did not approve the switch to semesters at its meeting tomorrow.
The Ohio Board of Regents is strongly urging all state schools to use a common calendar to ease transfers. All but four schools are on a semester system.
The committee does not know how much the transition will cost OU yet. In June, Executive Vice President and Provost Kathy Krendl predicted the switch would cost less than the University of Cincinnati's estimated $13 million. The Academic Calendar and System Committee reported in the summer of 2007 that the transition could cost between $8.2 million and $21.1 million, anticipating an enrollment drop.
The team, which will meet every week through Winter Quarter, has spent its first few meetings going over conversion outlines prepared over the summer. The documents make recommendations about curriculum changes and provide a detailed timeline for the switch.
The conversion documents suggest the team begin with a minimum number of 120 hours for graduation, compared to 192 in the quarter system. Using three-hour courses as a base, students will need to take five courses a semester, or at least 15 hours a semester, to graduate in four years. Three-hour courses are the most common in a semester system.
The team will also discuss the weekly class schedule. One proposed setup would hold 50-minute classes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with 80-minute classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This plan does not, however, account for classes longer than three hours a week or for those with special requirements, such as labs.
Individual colleges and departments will determine how many classes one professor teaches per semester, Carpenter said. Quarterly workload currently varies by department. The committee aims to ensure that teaching obligations of faculty match those that are currently in place according to the team's charge.
I'd like to preserve the workload as it stands now for myself and still be able to deliver the curriculum to my students Descutner said.
Transition students
who will take both quarter and semester classes, will go through intensive advising to create a plan for graduating on time, Descutner said. Advisers will be compensated for the extra time, but exact costs are still unknown.
According to the current timeline, changes to the general education curriculum will be completed by the end of this year.
All other curriculum changes are supposed to be turned in to colleges for approval by the beginning of winter 2010.
This is an opportunity to revisit the curriculum in a creative way
and I hope we take that opportunity
Carpenter said.
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