To facilitate student learning and ensure financial stability, leaders in higher education institutions offering online degrees and programs are adopting flexible course schedules with shorter terms. The literature does not include many evaluations demonstrating how shorter duration terms and courses might affect student achievement. In this…

Faculty and administrators often believe that abbreviated courses are less effective than the same courses taught during a full semester. This study examined student academic performance and course evaluations for identical courses taught during abbreviated summer sessions or during regular semester sessions. Contrary to popular convention,…

The Colorado College Plan was designed to reconstitute the academic calendar so that student and faculty time would be used more productively. Courses are offered one at a time, rather than simultaneously, in nine blocks, each 3 1/2 weeks in length. The fall semester encompasses four of these blocks and the spring semester contains five. Each…

Arguments for and against extension of dental education to a mandatory five years because of current overcrowding of dental curriculum are presented in debate form. Affirmative arguments center on the inefficacy of restructuring existing curricula, and arguments against focus on current curricular inefficiency, costs, and other practical…

A general discussion is given concerning revisions in hours and schedules for evening and correspondence school students engaged in higher technical education. The teaching plan for the evening system consists of two parts: one for instruction in the first three years, and the other for the next three. The plan for correspondence study provides…

The Concentrated Study (COS) program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is fulltime study of a single subject for a short period with no concurrent academic commitments. Chapter one describes the first trial of COS at MIT. Emphasis is placed on planning and preparation, description of course work and activities, and evaluation.…

This report summarizes the key discussions of a Conference of Directors of Carnegie-Funded Time-Shortened Baccalaureate Programs. Discussion centered on five major concerns, the nature of the baccalaureate; time shortening: where, when, and how; financing higher education; evaluation; and the dynamics of change. The report suggests that a number…

A proposal is made to reduce the traditional three-year law program to two calendar years, providing both educational and financial advantages: student stimulation; earlier employment, more intensive teaching but more free faculty time, and more continuous use of facilities. (Journal availibility: ABA, 77 S. Wacker Dr., Chicago, IL 60606.) (MSE)

A national survey of colleges and universities gathered information on variation in academic calendars across schools and over time; how many days, weeks, or minutes are considered necessary for a semester or a unit of academic credit; and who sets those standards. Results suggest little standardization and a shrinking semester. (MSE)

This study examined reasons that some full-time students take longer than normal to complete a bachelor's degree, and whether students who extend their program are more like those who take only 4 years to graduate or are more like dropouts. One part of the study reviewed 64 transcripts of all traditionally-admissible new freshmen who entered the…

A graduate course in educational philosophy, having a uniform number of hours and the same instructor, was taken by eight different groups over three different periods of time: 15 weeks, 7-8 weeks, or 4 weekends. No significant differences were found in final examination scores among any of the groups. (GDC)

Reports on college-level microeconomic classes to compare learning in short-term intensive course with traditional semester-length course. Found students in three-week courses performed better on achievement tests than those in traditional semester courses but this advantage disappeared when knowledge retention was measured. Raises policy…

A survey of 1,267 executives, mid-level managers, and supervisors in a wide variety of industries found strong shared preferences about the length, size, and format of professional seminars, and also revealed some differences in preference according to managerial level. Implications for design and marketing of seminars to the business community…