tOSU's scheduled switch from quarters to semesters in 2012

[c-rowbuckeye]

Personally, I'm glad I'll be gone before the switch. I talked to a friend close to the planning committee, and it's not looking good for students. The whole switch over is a result of Gee being hell bent on making credits more transferable between universities, but the problem with Ohio State is that it is so massive, making an easy transition is virtually impossible. The plan is to extend the terms from 10 weeks to 13 weeks and lowering the average weight of a class from 5 credit hours to 3 credit hours. The problem with this is a lot of classes for some majors are already not weighted at 5 hours and the students have less of a chance to catch up if they fall behind or have to re-take the class. And fitting an extra half of a quarters work into just three more weeks isn't going to go over well, especially since students will lose about 11 hours of class per class, per week. Bad, bad idea Gee...

[HorticullyBuck]

I also think some programs, more specified areas of studies will take major hits on this. In the Ag college theres many 2 and 3 hours classes for very specific topics. Our ag college is also one of the best in the nation think (4th or 5th) professors are saying how they have to put multiple classes together that will either make it too general or just unorganized.
Plus, i just thought of this. The first few games of the season freshman dont have to worry about classes. That has to be good for their building.

[Buckrock]

The Governor and Chancellor for education are the ones who pushed this through. This will allow Ohio students the opportunity to transfer and not lose credits. It also saves the state money. U.C. gets hurt the most since they have used quarters to boast about their co op program. They were an early pioneer for this.

OSU is the states 800 lb gorilla. When Gee indicated they would move to semesters, eveyone else followed suit. This is good for Ohio students and taxpayers.

[CleveBucks]

Originally Posted by c-rowbuckeye

And fitting an extra half of a quarters work into just three more weeks isn't going to go over well, especially since students will lose about 11 hours of class per class, per week. Bad, bad idea Gee...

The plan is for classes to go longer than 48 minutes, so that's probably how they make up the difference in instructional days.

Originally Posted by Buckrock

OSU is the states 800 lb gorilla. When Gee indicated they would move to semesters, eveyone else followed suit. This is good for Ohio students and taxpayers.

Actually just the opposite. OU, Cincy, and Wright had all committed to 2012. OSU finally came on board as the last one.

They needed to get the new Student Information System (SIS) operational before they even thought about converting. Parts of the SIS have been online since last June, and August of 09 is the completion date.

I don't know how alumni are ever going to get football tickets anymore. The only reason they had decent allotment for the nonconference games is that a lot of students were not on campus. If students are around at the beginning of September, you're going to see 30k+ student tickets sold for the early games.

[HorticullyBuck]

Could you explain why this is better for tax payers?? i do not see how semesters to quarters would make a difference other than transfer credits. Is OSU changing my taxes to a semester system now too? (sarcasm font)

[BB73]

Lantern

One more step until semesters are official

The Academic and Student Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees unanimously recommended Thursday that Ohio State adopt a semester calendar.

"I sense that we are all in agreement about the issue," said John D. Ong, chair of the Academic and Student Affairs Committee. "We will recommend [the resolution] to the board."

Last month, the University Senate decisively approved the resolution with a 91-19 vote margin.

"I can't think of a time when the board has ignored a committee recommendation," said Peter Koltak, president of Undergraduate Student Government.

Pending approval by the Board of Trustees today, OSU will adopt a semester calendar.

Cont'd ...

[LitlBuck]

Academically speaking, I have done both as an undergraduate and I would prefer to do quarters rather than semesters anytime. A real killer is a cumulative final exam under semesters and, overall, I just think they are much harder.

[cincibuck]

I loved quarters as a student. 10 weeks, finals and a break. I did hagte the fact that OSU was always the last college to return to campus. Abandonment issues arose each fall.

As a teacher I see it entirely the other way. The 15 week sesemster allows me to get to know my students, to have long range projects that I'd never get to in a 10 week course. A 13 week semester is laughable. Trying selling those credits to a school with 15.

[LitlBuck]

link

By Denise Yost
Managing Editor, nbc4i.com
Published: April 3, 2009

COLUMBUS, Ohio?OSU officials voted unanimously to move from quarters to semesters on Friday.

OSU Trustees voted at a meeting Friday afternoon, NBC 4 reported.
The Ohio State University Student and Faculty Senate previously voted to convert the university to a semester schedule on March 12.

In a press release, Ohio State Provost Joseph A. Alutto said, ?The conversion to semesters will allow us to better integrate with other universities, facilitating the transfer of credits and students.?

According to OSU, the conversion process should be complete by 2012 at an estimated cost of $8.7 million to $11.2 million for such expenses as technology modifications, course redesign and curriculum alignment.

The Committee for Enrollment and Student Progress is working on the structure of the overall academic calendar, which will be voted on by the University Senate. Trustees will then vote on the rule change to accommodate that calendar.

[ant80]

Originally Posted by LitlBuck

Academically speaking, I have done both as an undergraduate and I would prefer to do quarters rather than semesters anytime. A real killer is a cumulative final exam under semesters and, overall, I just think they are much harder.

Well, when I was going to school in India, each term was 9 months long. Then we had 2 months of vacation. The worst part was an "Annual Exam" that was cumulative, and counted for 100% of the grade. I'm not kidding. You can miss all your classes and kick ass on that one exam or you can study really hard the entire year and totally bomb that exam. 100% of the grade, mind you. We did have a month to study for the exams called the study holidays. The most nerve-wracking periods of my life. You think semesters are hard... you ain't seen nothin' yet.

But academically, I do think moving to semesters is a good move. A great move, in fact. Football wise, not so much. Kids can't skip Winter quarter and enroll spring for practice... Oh well.