18 days

[cathwen]

Downer, that is some challenge--good luck!

When I taught at Bucolic Elite, I taught a summer class that crammed two semesters of elementary French into six weeks @ 5 days/week, 4 hours/day.  It was brutal, and the crash in terms of time and attention and ability to absorb *one more thing* always came at the three-week mark.  Most students would then pick up steam again and push to the finish line. 

The guidelines for the course were very similar to the ones Fishbrains has just laid out.

Did they learn French?  Yes, but not as thoroughly as in the standard two semesters.  Those who continued (and most did) almost always placed into our "bridge" course between elementary and intermediate.  On the other hand, we had very few failures.  I think that students who choose such a course have an idea what they're getting themselves into and are mentally prepared for the challenge.  Most of ours were highly motivated and worked pretty diligently. 

[mamselle]

That reminds me of the Language Camps (not really called that) in, say, Biblical Hebrew, Greek, Latin, German (much 19th c. theology was written in German, so it's a required research language, still), at various seminaries.

I never taught or took one, but I know someone who organizes one, I should look up their summer and Winterim programs.

M.

[AvidReader]

My parents and I took a week-long (biblical) Greek intensive one summer when one parent was in graduate school (other parent and I joined for fun and moral support). 8 hours a day, then we would drill vocabulary and endings until bedtime. I've lost most of it now, but I had a year when I could just about follow along in the New Testament if someone was reading it aloud in English. I also learned some fabulous teaching and learning strategies. We did a lot of timed drills and mixed speaking and writing exercises (e.g. write the vocabulary words in Greek while speaking the English translations). It was super fun. I would do this again in a heartbeat.

AR.

[Langue_doc]

I've taught 3-week courses using pretty-much the formula Dr. Codex gives. I had to give "the speech" on day one to put everyone on the same page about the complete inflexibility of the course:

• You MUST attend every day. Late work will NOT be accepted. You MUST ask questions when you have them.
• You can NOT get sick, have someone die, take a day or two off, go on vacation, have work issues, etc.
• You MUST come ready to work and ready to discuss the material every day, and you MUST work all three hours in-class (we will not get out early) and you MUST work probably 2-3-4-5 hours at home every night outside of class.
• It's okay to be sick of everyone by the end of the week, but you still have to be nice to people.

The classes have always gone fairly well, with the normal craptacular flame-outs of some slackers and/or students who had life happen to them at the wrong time.

As others have noted: Not easy money, but quick money.

I've taught intensive courses during the summer and winter breaks. The department/program usually does "the speech" about not missing classes, completing assignments, and other requirements so that the instructors can concentrate on the teaching and not the complaints.

I've found most of the students to be very motivated and also appreciative of the opportunity to complete a pre-requisite course during the intersession. I once taught a 10-day course during the winter intersession. The class met for four or five hours a day. It certainly was intensive. One of the students was using her vacation days to take this course.

[the_geneticist]

I thankfully managed to never have to teach a Winter Break short course.  I would have done it if I could have taught a molecular biology workshop, but not for a standard 15 week course smashed into three weeks.  The school offered a 10-credit organic chemistry class in summer (take a year of classes in 10 weeks!).  The sad thing is that most of the students who enrolled weren't the "I love chemistry let's rock it!" sort, but were "I'm so behind I can't graduate on time unless I do this" folks.  The failure rate was appalling.  I had to advise students and when they asked if they should register I'd ask if they loved their lab classes.  If yes, I said to take it.  If they said they really struggled in lab or hated chemistry I'd tell them to take something else.  It was just a cash cow for the school.

[downer]

Class was nearly full yesterday, but enrollment dropped by a third today. Presumably that's largely due to students who never paid the deposit, and may go up again when they get the notifications. Still, I'm hoping that my "get real about this" email made some students reconsider.

[Burnie]

Yup taught a 3 week May term course w a required group project.  That was AWFUL.

[KiUlv]

We're on quarters, so our courses are typically 10-11 days total (once per week, no holidays, and no classes during finals week).

[writingprof]

In my adjunct life, I taught in a program where the classes met for six days.

Wouldn't that mean the students were meant to be working about 15 hours a day on the course? Presumably they did not do that.

This. If accreditors aren't putting a stop to this kind of nonsense, why do they exist?

[Ruralguy]

Accreditors often do chase after such things. If the school keeps up the same practices, there is a warning period, and then possible sanctions. However, our accreditors and I presume all of them have more or less suspended the rules during COVID, though you do need to send them a summary of how you intend to break the rules and why, and get a sign off.

[ciao_yall]

In my adjunct life, I taught in a program where the classes met for six days.

Wouldn't that mean the students were meant to be working about 15 hours a day on the course? Presumably they did not do that.

This. If accreditors aren't putting a stop to this kind of nonsense, why do they exist?

Unless part of the meeting time was considered lab, in which the student is not expected to do outside (or extra) preparation or homework.

[darkstarrynight]

In my first summer here, I taught a three-week graduate course in the summer that met four times a week. However, I had to miss a day for a conference, so we met 11 times. My department chair said I had to offer the same quality educational experience as a 16-week graduate course. In the end, it was not a great situation for me or the students. I asked to make the class four weeks in the following summer, and no one enrolled. Ever since, it is an eight-week online course.

[wareagle]

In my first summer here, I taught a three-week graduate course in the summer that met four times a week. However, I had to miss a day for a conference, so we met 11 times. My department chair said I had to offer the same quality educational experience as a 16-week graduate course. In the end, it was not a great situation for me or the students. I asked to make the class four weeks in the following summer, and no one enrolled. Ever since, it is an eight-week online course.

I've managed summer programs with several different term lengths.  Compressing classes is absolutely something that has to be done in consultation with faculty.  Not all disciplines or content knowledge compress well.  No one should be expected to compress a 16-week class into three weeks and be held to similar results.

Some experiences, like language immersion (think three weeks of conversational something-or-other prior to going on study abroad), studio art, or field research might work well for short terms.  Things that benefit from long, uninterrupted periods of engagement, and don't have a lot of outside expectations (like heavy reading assignments).

Colorado College runs its entire curriculum on short courses.  It is fascinating.     

[downer]

While 18 days is especially short, I have taught a good number of 3, 4, 5 or 6 weeks courses over the years.

I'm often surprised that students do pretty well. The fail rate may be a little higher, but sometimes they seem to do better. Maybe it is because there's less time for the rest of their lives to interfere with their studies.

I wouldn't assign a long paper in very short courses. There's still time for students to do a paper badly, cramming the night before it is due, but not to do it well, with the research and revision process that we recommend.

[dr_codex]

While 18 days is especially short, I have taught a good number of 3, 4, 5 or 6 weeks courses over the years.

I'm often surprised that students do pretty well. The fail rate may be a little higher, but sometimes they seem to do better. Maybe it is because there's less time for the rest of their lives to interfere with their studies.

I wouldn't assign a long paper in very short courses. There's still time for students to do a paper badly, cramming the night before it is due, but not to do it well, with the research and revision process that we recommend.

And that, right there, is the problem.