Summer classes pack punch in short span

For many MSU students, summer isn’t just about freezer pops and Slip ‘N Slides — it’s about classes. Jaclynn Maltese, a finance senior, who walked at graduation in May, is finishing her last nine credits during the first part of the summer.

Maltese is taking one 300-level accounting class and two 400-level finance classes. She said the material isn’t harder, but the workload is heavier. Trying to fit in studying and homework is tough, but learning the material isn’t as difficult, she said.

“I think it’s easier to learn stuff because you don’t have to wait so long to be tested,” Maltese said.

Many students such as Maltese are dealing with the heavy workload and faster pace of summer classes. Whether catching up on credits, getting ahead or finishing degrees, the number of students taking summer courses increased about 11.8 percent from summer 2004 to summer 2008, according to data from the Office of the Registrar.

Robert Floden, a professor in the College of Education, said summer classes have pros and cons.

“One advantage is the students are intently and intensely engaged in the material,” Floden said. “The hardest thing … is being able to write a paper and than revise it. The pace is intense.”

Floden is teaching a seven week online class for education masters and nursing students. He said he makes sure his students are on top of their work.

“Every day they are thinking about the material,” he said. “I have an online course where two assignments are due every week. I’m on their case making sure they keep up with the material.”

The stress that comes with the increased workload and pace runs a thin line between being helpful and hurtful, said Thomas Carr, a professor of psychology.

“You need to be stressed or aroused enough to be able to pay attention — you don’t want to be asleep or bored,” Carr said. “If the pressure is too great, attention will be restricted and worry will fill (students’) minds instead of learning.”

Carr said the pace and workload of summer classes, with their shortened schedules and larger chunks of material, often interfere with the learning process.

“There’s a lot of research, in labs and in classrooms, that shows in the short term you can cram, but you won’t remember much later,” he said. “Cramming might do OK for the next day, but not over time.”

Carr suggested waiting to take classes in the fall or spring if the material is key to a students field of study, if possible.

Some professors, such as Richard Enbody, an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, are cutting the number of assignments to help students cope.

“We try to do the same course (as during the fall and spring) in half the time,” Enbody said. “One change I made was to have fewer assignments — in some sense, it makes it a little easier.”

Enbody said during the year the students do a programming project once a week. In the summer, he cuts the number of assignments because it would be too difficult for students to do two a week.

Despite cutting the number of assignments, the content covered is the same as during the regular academic year, he said.

Also, the class sizes tend to be smaller — an advantage to students because it allows for more individualized attention, he said.

Kinesiology sophomore Rebecca Rogers is taking Chemistry 141, General Chemistry and its lab section, 161, Chemistry Laboratory I. She said the number of people in the class is fewer than during the regular year and people ask more questions.

“People in the class have been asking questions directly to the professor,” she said. “I’ve never been in a lecture where that happened — it could be the professor is more open to answering them or people feel more comfortable in a smaller class size.”

This is the first time Enbody has taught a class during the summer. He said usually he would be conducting research, but he didn’t have enough funding this summer. Many professors do their research during the summer, so graduate students do more of the teaching.

Enbody said the graduate students are well prepared for teaching.

“It’s a learning experience for the Ph.D. students just before they’re about to go do this on their own,” he said. “We’re not doing it with starting Ph.D. students.”

Christopher Oliver, a visiting instructor of sociology, is teaching two classes in the first session of summer and one in the second session.

He said students tend to be more motivated in the summer either because they are trying to get ahead or trying to catch up on credits.

The biggest issue for him is maintaining the students’ interest for the longer class periods that summer holds.

“If it’s three hours twice a week, trying to keep students engaged is difficult,” Oliver said.