In August of 1998 ABAC and other units of the University System of Georgia will convert from the quarter to the semester calendar. Current and future ABAC students should begin soon to plan for this event. In order to plan intelligently, they will need to understand the semester system, its benefits, and how it will affect their college experience.
In December 1995, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia voted to adopt the semester calendar in place of the quarter calendar, which has been in force at the college since at least 1933. The Board decided that the move to the semester system will improve the quality of education for students throughout state colleges and universities. The principal reasons for the Board's decision concerned the inherent advantages of the semester calendar and the comprehensive curriculum revision that would be required in converting to the semester calendar. Presently, the college is preparing for the conversion, which will go into effect August 1998.
Students and faculty will find the semester and quarter systems similar with respect to the annual amount of time spent in class but different in the way that time is divided. On the quarter system, a full study load involves approximately three courses, each meeting fifty minutes daily, five days per week for each ten-week quarter, or 125 class hours per quarter, and 375 class hours per year. On the semester system students will typically take five courses, each meeting two and one-half hours weekly for each fifteen-week semester, or 187.5 class hours per semester, and 375 class hours per year. In addition to involving the same amount of class time per year, both the quarter and semester calendars allow sufficient study time for a student taking a full load -- two hours of homework time for each class hour, or 30 hours weekly.
Semester and quarter calendars are different in several ways. On semester, students are usually involved in ten annual courses, rather than the nine courses taken annually on the quarter system. While most quarter courses meet approximately fifty minutes for five days each week, most semester courses meet one to three times each week for a total of two and one-half contact hours. At ABAC most semester courses will have a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule (with 50 minute periods), or a Tuesday-Thursday schedule (with 75 minute periods.) Evening courses will usually meet one 150-minute period (usually 05:30-08:15 p.m. with a 15-minute break) or two 75-minute periods per week (usually 05:30-6:45 p.m. or 07:00-08:15 p.m. per night). Some courses, particularly those with labs, will use other schemes for dividing up the required weekly time of 150 minutes. ABAC's semester class periods are shown on page 14.
Note: The daily schedule for classes meeting 5 days a week will be arranged by the division chairs and the Registrar, as needed.
The academic year calendar for the semester system will begin in mid-August and end in early May, rather than the mid-September through early-June calendar typical for the quarter system. For example, fall term of 1998 at ABAC begins August 17 and ends December 16; the 1999 spring term begins January 5 and ends May 5.
The semester system is considered advantageous because of the depth of study it allows. There is, for example, a greater span of time for study, for absorption of course materials, for preparation, for evaluation, for subject coverage, for extended out-of-class assignments, for more complete textbook coverage, and for more student-faculty interaction than under the quarter system. Because of the greater depth of coverage of ideas and the longer time period allowed for the mastery of skills, the semester offers students a more productive learning environment.
The semester system is also more Òuser-friendly" than the quarter system because of the elimination of one calendar unit of the calendar -- which means one less registration period, one less set of classes, one less dorm assignment, and one less tuition and fees payment.
In order to fit educational material designed for the quarter system into the semester system, all curricula have been redesigned. This process has involved faculty examination of the educational objectives of their programs, compressing and eliminating quarter courses that don't efficiently serve the objectives, and devising new courses that do. The revision of the college curriculum has also included updating course materials and adding new, more productive educational techniques.
The semester system offers numerous additional advantages. It improves retention of students because of faculty interaction with the same students over a longer time period. It breaks up the intensive routine of the quarter system, often providing a day or more between classes. Furthermore, it matches the academic calendars of over sixty percent of the colleges and universities in the USA and correlates better with the public school calendar. The semester calendar allows for a longer review period before finals, as well as enhances the utilization of physical facilities throughout the day, week, and year. Finally, the semester system provides greater opportunities for student summer employment by allowing students to begin work earlier.
While the semester calendar will result in educational improvements throughout the University System of Georgia, students accustomed to the quarter system must be prepared to break old habits. On semester, students and faculty deal with more course and labs at one time, although at the end of the year the number of lab and class hours is about the same whether the semester or quarter calendar is used. On the quarter system students take about three courses each term (fifteen class hours per week) to graduate in two years; however, on semester, students take about five courses per term (fifteen class hours per week) to graduate in two years. If students average fewer than fifteen hours per semester, they won't graduate on time.
Students must remember that taking five semester courses per term involves no more class time than taking three quarter courses per term.
Fee payment on the semester system is another matter that may take special planning. There will be two, rather than three, tuition and fees payments per semester year. Thus, while there are fewer payments, the payments are larger. In order to reduce the impact of this change, the Board of Regents is devising an alternate payment plan. The plan will probably offer students the option of making more than two annual payments, thereby reducing the amount of each payment.
The remaining habit to be broken for those accustomed to the quarter system concerns yearly beginning and ending dates for the semester calendar. College classes will begin in August when students may be used to working or relaxing, and courses will end mid-spring -- allowing students to go to work, to begin other study, or to begin their vacations earlier.
ABAC students who are within a year of graduation should meet with advisors in the mid-May of 1997 to plan a quarter-by-quarter schedule of classes that will show the completion of all degree requirements by the end of summer 1998.
Students who take courses or graduate after summer of 1998 will finish their ABAC programs with a combination of quarter and semester courses. These Òtransition students" will adjust easily to the semester system, and their quarter system courses will transfer to the semester system without loss of credit and without confusion -- if the student plans ahead.
Transition students must meet with their advisors beginning in mid-May 1997 to plan a term-by-term schedule of classes that will lead to graduation (or other objective). The advisor will have course scheduling information for 1997-99 as well as quarter/semester course equivalency lists to assist in planning each extended class schedule.
In the meeting with the advisor, transition students should be sure to plan to complete before fall of 1998 all required course sequences and courses that don't have semester equivalents, or to put off taking course sequences until after semester conversion. Some quarter courses that are taught in sequential order will change radically after semester conversion. Some other quarter courses will not exist under the semester system. Unless the advisors approve, students should not enroll in the first course in a sequence Spring or Summer of 1998.
Semester conversion is a monumental task for every state college and university in Georgia. Because the effort will renew, reshape, and refocus educational programs of these institutions, it will have a positive impact on future students and the development of this state.
