University of Wisconsin students could have the chance to take short, intensive three-week classes during winter break this school year.
Provost Paul DeLuca said the three-week winter term of classes would take place within the four-to-six-week period at the end of fall and the beginning of spring terms.
“It is extremely inefficient to leave classrooms unoccupied during winter break while at the same time many students can not get into courses they want to take during the year,” DeLuca said.
Courses included in this term would be three credit
courses normally spanning a semester that could be divided into components
and taught intensively over the short “winterim” period, DeLuca said. He added that some of the inspiration for the winter term came from the chancellor’s new educational initiative.
DeLuca said the time between the fall and spring semester would be convenient for students who remain on campus over winter break and for students who might want to pick up an extra course to complete their major earlier or expand on a subset in which they are interested.
“We are committed to making things like this happen,” DeLuca said. “We are determined because it will be more effective and efficient for students to get courses they need when they cannot get them at any other time.”
Jeff Russell, vice provost for lifelong learning and dean of the Division of Continuing Studies, said students from Associated Students of Madison originally raised the idea for a winter term of classes in a town hall meeting about educational innovation.
In April, UW decided to conduct a student survey to gauge interest in the possibility of a winter term, Russell said. The survey received input from 4,200 UW students and found that students do take courses over winter break at local institutions, Russell said.
According to Russell, other than the initial work that has been done, there has been no formal commitment to implementing a “winterm” term of classes.
Russell said the university is not yet ready to say whether or not winterim classes will become a reality because many other questions have to be answered in terms of what the winter term would entail, what format the classes would take and what faculty would be involved.
Russell is currently working with Enrollment Management, the University Committee, the Academic Staff Representative Committee and ASM to continue discussions on introducing the term.
According to Russell, an evaluation of what types of courses would be able to fit into a condensed time would have to be taken into consideration because certain classes – like a four credit lab-based course – would not be able to lend themselves to a three-week session.
“There are a large number of issues and folks to work through in order to move ideas like this, and I think it takes time and has to be done in a coordinated and disciplined way in order to move it ahead,” Russell said.
