Regular or Shorter Classes?
The typical university semester lasts about 15weeks long, which is a good fit for many students but also too long of a time period for others. Arizona State University is now starting to offer sped up courses that are only 7-1/2weeks long for their students. These courses would require students to spend twice as much time in class than they did for the 15week courses, but they are being given the opportunity to finish the class much quicker.
Short courses like this have their pros and cons, and they most definitely are not for everybody. They would also only be proper for certain classes while harmful to others.
Short courses would be good for students who have enough time to dedicate to the extra-fast pace, are committed to the workload, and who can also handle the stress of the quicker pace since most college students would agree that college is stressful in the first place. It wouldn't be good for those who can't handle the more time-crunched, stressful workload.
These type of classes would only be good for general education classes such as English, critical reading, and math. Again, if the student can keep up with the pace, it could be beneficial to get these types of classes done quicker. Science and healthcare related classes, however, would be harmed by such dramatically shortened semesters. Many healthcare students go straight into the workforce without any experience, not really knowing what to do, along with already being overwhelmed with large workloads crammed into the longer, 15week semesters.
That being said, students do still have the options of different course lengths to take, so they do not have to take these new, shorter courses if they do not want to. Simply sign up for a course that you think you can handle and is at an appropriate pace.
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