Oh my aching back...It looks like higher education at USM has finally dipped lower than a Limbo dancer. . The mini session will offer 3 credit hour core courses in one or two weeks. This means that any serious reading and writing have been eliminated for all practical purposes. Now that's painless education. It's amazing what some faculty members will do for a few thousand bucks. I guess the bad guys were right.

I've known David Davies for many years, and have a great deal of respect for him. If he thinks a particular course can be taught in an intensive session, it probably can be.

Mind you, in my own discipline, I don't think that Victorian novel is a candidate, but there are certainly several courses that could be taught intensively and would free time up for students to spend more time in other courses during regular sessions.

Many wise heads are calling for renewed scrutiny of delivery methods to make certain that credits are equivalent, to which I say Amen. Let us make certain that we taxpayers are getting what we paid for. In the meantime, let us proceed cautiously and resist making judgments on persons who have always advocated diligence and accountability-- not to mention shared governance. David Davies is among those who, to my knowledge, have done so.

Jameela

Jameela Lares wrote:

---

I've  Let us make certain that we taxpayers are getting what we paid for. Jameela

---

Amen, Jameela, let's do make certain that the taxpayers are getting what they paid for. Let's begin by examining the financial aspects of this deal. At $4,500 per mini-course with a maximum of $9,000 for two weeks, that would be a salary at a rate of $234,000 per year. If the taxpayers were aware of this, I think the smiles would quickly disappear from their collective faces.

The quote from Dr Davies speaks for itself and was offered with no editorial comment. That Professor Lares heard a criticism of the idea that an entire semester's course could be taught in one week, also speaks for itself.

Dr Lares is right--scrutiny is needed here.

---

Keep in mind this is a 101 class, an introduction to Mass Comm and Journalism. While it may soon be part of the core curriculam for MCJ students, it's hardly a class that is vital to these student's education. After all, it is just now being added to the core. Those really important classes--Investigative Strategies, Advanced Reporting, Press Law and Ethics, etc--are certainly reserved for the traditional semester-long sessions.

Lots of issues concerning mini-sessions have not been convered in this discussion. Here are only a few:

The personal characteristics of the instructor is not the issue. I'm sure this particular teacher is a swell guy and competent.

It's difficult to teach a 3-credit course in a 5-week summer session. Covering the same content in a 1-week mini-course is next to impossible.

Utilizing the number of guest lecturers as suggested in this report means that a big, soft, cushy recliner might be needed for the instructor-of-record while the students listen to the guests like couch potatoes watching TV.

The temporal contraints alone would permit only four nights for students to read the assignments, write (a core course surely contains writing doesn't it?), and feed the dog.

The very idea of a class comprised of eight hours of continuous classroom presentations end-on-end for four or five consecutive days is hardly what a college-level course experience is all about. Suitable as a training workshop for insurance salespersons, perhaps, but not a proper format for imparting concepts and new ideas to young minds.   

If a course is important enough to be on the verge of being incorporated into a unit's core curriculum, it is too important to be relegated to one-week mini-course status. If the university's goal is merely to increase it's enrollment figures, let's just register the students for a course in study hall. At one time didn't we give academic credit to students when they attended freshmen preview or orientation or something like that? Those of you who were made instructor-or-record know what I mean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Invictus wrote:

---

The important thing is that the instructor wants to teach the course in this format, is enthusiastic about it 

---

Let that $4,500 Blue Light Special shine its light on me and you'll see enthusiasm like you've never seen before, Invictus.

Citizen wrote:

---

trade or professional schools, but stop tearing down our universities.   Giving everyone in the state a degree won't help if there is no real education.

---

 

The above statement is the problem, Citizen.  Everyone thinks they should have a college education and if USM or any other school doesn't let them in (and take their money) then  Crap-ola University will.  This, by extention, forces universities to teach down to who they are accepting (developmental courses, especially) and exemplifies the money-hungryness of universities.

 

You can run but you can't hide wrote:

---

And this, my friends, is why USM is now ranked in the 4th tier. We've been found out.

---

I'm sure getting an education reading this board.  You and "ree" opened my eyes.  The general public doesn't know all of this because we are in a "one factory town" that the media plays up.  I'm so sick of this I'm going the throw up my lunch. 

Invictus wrote:

---

 I looked at the rearview mirror on the passenger side of my truck the other day. It said, "Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear." Think about it.

---

We see ourselves in that mirror, of course. That's why it'll take more than a new administration to turn USM around. It'll take a whole new attitude across the board.

Consensus Building wrote:

---

On another thread, Reporter links Thomas Meredith's comments in the HA.  Meredith raises the ugly reality that 40% of Mississippians do not graduate from high school and that only 17% hold college degrees.  I love the concept of academic selectivity as much as the next person but somehow this cycle must be broken.

---

Why must more than 17% hold college degrees? There was a time when only 2 or 3% held college degrees. When I was in college it had risen to 10%. Now it has now risen to 17%. I'd say this trend should be continued, not broken.

Upward and Onward wrote:

---

Consensus Building wrote: On another thread, Reporter links Thomas Meredith's comments in the HA.  Meredith raises the ugly reality that 40% of Mississippians do not graduate from high school and that only 17% hold college degrees.  I love the concept of academic selectivity as much as the next person but somehow this cycle must be broken. Why must more than 17% hold college degrees? There was a time when only 2 or 3% held college degrees. When I was in college it had risen to 10%. Now it has now risen to 17%. I'd say this trend should be continued, not broken.

---

Maybe we should face reality and admit that a high school and university education is not what it used to be. Everyone now must get a graduate degree.  What is the percentage with graduate educations, about 2%?  That would put the educated back to what "Upward and Onward" estimated it was years ago  

Isn't education a great business; the worse job you do educating the more business you generate.  What a country!!!

 

for those interested in what our sister institution, Ole Miss, is doing for their winter intersession go to this site:  http://www.outreach.olemiss.edu/wintersession/Schedule.html

Surgeon wrote:

---

I can't wait until the Medical Schools begin this method of delivery.  I have been thinking about expanding my practice into brain surgery when I find a free weekend to learn it.  I also have a friend who would like to become a commercial pilot one weekend. I would be nice if we could do both at Turtle Creek.

---

Surgeon, you do cut to the chase.

As evidence of how far we're taking these academic short cuts, I was informedthat Sociology 101 will also be offered in mini-session. That course is among the university's core requirements. If we can do one of those as a quickie, something mustbe rotten to the core. Don't we still have the requirement that core courses must contain a writing component?

Ghost Writers in the Sky wrote:

---

Don't we still have the requirement that core courses must contain a writing component?

---

Yet another part of our institutional memory that has escaped us.