No this isn’t what’s said at the end of a three hour class. Well not only what’s said at the end of a three hour class.
NJCU is finally taking a serious look at how classes are scheduled and its impact on students.
We all know the symptoms of repeated three hour classes: glazed eyes, a sleepy mind, and asleep feet. Impatient students staring at their phone every few minutes wondering how much time is left.
NJCU is finally prioritizing their resources and manpower to do something that will have a long term impact on students for semesters and years to come. They’re finally trying to find a way to fix our schedules.
The NJCU administration is looking to change the way our classes are scheduled. Looking at many other schools in the state, we see that NJCU has a weirdly setup schedule. Two hour class one day, then an hour long class the day after? Who comes up with this stuff?
By making the switch to 75 minute classes with 15 minute breaks in between, students will have less frequent lapses in memory and more time for their brain to reload between classes.
While professors have been challenging the administration to provide any evidence or studies to support their theory, they need look no further than their own classrooms: heads rolled back staring at the ceiling, laptops out, and yawns heard every time a professor turns around.
Our attention span is short. Ten to fifteen minutes – tops. There have been several academic studies supporting this fact and it should come as no surprise that many students are looking forward to some extra free time outside of class.
Now three hour classes won’t be gone entirely, but most three hour classes would be upper-leveled classes for students in their respective majors. Not three hours of introductory classes – those would be broken down into two 75 minute lectures or three 50 minute lectures.
Too many times have students sat through a Civilizations class and thought to themselves, “Am I going to die here?”
These changes have been a long time coming. Heck, it should have been talked about after the Star-Ledger reported that NJCU had the lowest graduation rate of New Jersey universities in January 2011.
But later is better than never.
Administrators and professors should stop bickering over hours, dates, and schedules. Just do it.
Too long has NJCU gone through some bureaucratic nonsensical process to implement common sense. Too long has NJCU deterred students who want to graduate within a reasonable amount of years. Too long has NJCU waited.
NJCU has always wanted to find ways to attract students to campus and this is our “If you build it, they will come,” moment.
While many graduating students asking “Why are they doing this now?” the rest of us are emphatically screaming:
Finally!
Steve • Mar 3, 2013 at 5:01 pm
It’s a decent idea but there are many benefits to three hour classes for students. At the least, splitting classes up will cost students more to commute to campus more often.