In what has widely been considered a resounding success, City College tried out offering two sessions for the first time this summer.
According to a school wide survey, students were happy with the opportunity to take more classes. Yet many are unaware that this change was simply a trial run. The Channels Editorial Board strongly supports bringing back the two-semester schedule, but there are some changes we think could benefit everyone.
As with any trial, there were some positives and negatives that came along with the new schedule. Instructors and students alike found these sessions to be a huge benefit. With additional courses offered, students were able to enroll in the classes they need and move on faster, and professors were able to make more money over the summer. However, the speed may have been one of the problems.
By only offering six week courses, some of us on the ed board are concerned too much information was crammed into too little a timeframe. We understand students need access to more core classes, but things like higher-level math and English classes shouldn’t be taught at such an accelerated pace.
In addition to helping students, the expanded schedule also brought in much needed revenue. It saved the college more than $3 million and brought in almost $750,000.
While most of the faculty was fond of the trial, the support staff members of City College had an incredibly difficult situation to deal with. Due to the lack of a break between semesters, the pipeline and registration systems experienced lots of technical issues. The Informational Technology Division had less to time to work on the new pipeline upgrades, resulting in a multitude of errors when students attempted to access the site.
Not only were there problems with pipeline, but preparing for the start of the new semester was difficult as well. Getting the school up and running is a huge process, one that takes weeks of work behind the scenes. The school was given a fraction of this time to prepare because of the expanded schedule.
Members of the ed board don’t think this should be difficult to fix though. With the proper planning, the college can hire and schedule the IT staff accordingly.
The biggest change we would like to see is a simple one; change one session to online only classes and make the other one a mix of both.
Offering one half of the summer sessions solely online would give the college and IT staff time to plan and prepare for the upcoming year. Students who go home for the summer will be able to take courses from home, as well as saving them money and time in school.
With such a positive response, it’s clear City College should continue offering two summer sessions. Students who want to get ahead will be able to, and we won’t have to work our IT department to death.
