STUDENT
QUESTIONS
GENERAL
Why is DeVry moving to all session-based
classes?
Like other
DeVry campuses, the DuPage campus is moving to session-based classes for
several reasons:
Why do all classes have to be taught
in 8 weeks? I’ve heard that COD has classes of many different
lengths – why can’t DeVry?
What will happen if I skip a session,
either A or B?
This policy
will not change with the transition to sessions. If a student registers
for Session A, but not Session B during a term, that student will must go
through the manual registration process at the beginning of the term. If
a student only registers for Session B, and waits until after Session A begins,
then the student must go through the manual registration process before Session
B begins. If a student registers for Session B only, but registers before
Session A begins, then the student will be able to go through online
registration as usual.
According to statistics from the
Office of Institutional Research and Assessment, DeVry students do equally well
or better in accelerated and compressed courses than in standard courses. How was the analysis done?
The analysis
was done for all courses in all programs on all campuses, centers, and
online. The analysis showed that
students in session-based courses fared just as well or better than in standard
courses.
How will this change affect the
calendar? Will we still have breaks
between terms?
Our
understanding is that there will be 4 weeks of “no classes” in every calendar
year; two of those weeks are at the end of December and beginning of January,
while the second two weeks have not yet been established. . The calendar changes are coming from DeVry’s
corporate office and will be communicated as soon as possible.
Can a person still graduate from DeVry
in less than three years with a bachelor’s degree? Will the number of credit hours required to
complete a program change?
The number of
credit hours required for graduation will not be affected by this change. A four-year bachelor’s degree program can
still be completed in three years.
ACADEMICS
Will I have to spend more out-of-class
time on each class than I do now?
Most session
based courses will have an independent learning component that students will be
required to complete. However, since
students will only take 2 or 3 classes at a time, it is very possible that more
time will be spent on an individual class but not more time outside of class
overall during the week.
Will I learn as much in 8 weeks as I
did in 15 weeks?
Yes. The content of the course will not change;
the objectives for each course will stay the same.
Will I be able to keep up with the
pace of an 8 week class?
Most students
will only take two or three courses during a session instead of four or five
courses in a standard term. This will
allow students to spend more time each week on fewer courses.
What happens if I miss a class?
In a
session-based course, it is more costly to the student to miss a class
meeting. Faculty will post lecture notes
and other resources for course topics in the e-college environment; this should
help you independently learn the material that you missed, but you should still
make every attempt to attend every meeting of every class.
Will the faculty be able to tailor
classes to the new format? I think that many of my teachers have been
teaching standard classes for a long time.
Faculty are
currently reworking their courses to fit the session format. They have undergone training over the last
few months to make this transition successful.
I am taking five or six classes now in
the fifteen week format without any problems. I think it would be fine for me
to take four classes in both session A and in B. I do not work so I have lots
of time. My advisor suggested for me to stick to 2 or 3 each session, but I
know I could handle 4 each session and get done even faster. Is there a policy
that will prevent me from taking eight classes a term if I am willing to pay
the overload?
As always,
Academic Deans must advise and sign off on any student load greater than 19
credit hours in a given term. The system
will not allow a student to take more than this without permission.
How will this affect classes that have
always been 15 weeks in length? Will
they be broken into two parts, making students go to school for a longer
period?
Some courses
may be broken into two sessions in order to ensure that course content is
sufficiently covered. However, the
number of credits required to graduate in a given program will not change. Therefore, this change will not delay
graduation. Any changes made to
coursework will be communicated by the appropriate Academic Dean to all
students as soon as possible.
There is a rumor that students can
only enroll in two classes per session; is that true? What is the maximum amount of credit hours or
classes that a student can take per session?
Currently,
the system does not have a two class per session restriction. As before, students will be allowed to take
up to 19 credit hours per semester. The
system will allow registration for all 19 credits in one session, however, this
is not an academically sound decision.
Most students will have the best success taking 2 or 3 courses in a
session.
Are you offering all compressed
classes during the day?
No. While many of the technical courses will be
compressed during the day, there will be a variety of i-Optimized/accelerated
courses available during the day as well.
Will classes meet for a longer period
of time in a day, or throughout the week?
Compressed
courses will meet twice as many hours in a given week as a standard course;
this will most likely be over three or four days in a week. I-optimized courses will meet up to four
hours a week; this will either be four hours in one day or two hours on two
days during the week.
What happens if I do not finish the MyMathLab
course in eight weeks of session A? Let’s say I am registered for MATH 032 in
session A and MATH 092 in session B. Will I be able to finish MATH032 within
the first two weeks of B without changing my schedule?
A student
enrolled in Math 032, 092, 102,104 or 114 is expected to complete the material
within the allotted 8 week session. However, if the student is registered for
math in the next immediate session, continued work in the course will be
allowed. If the student waits a session
or longer to retake the course, their work will be reset to the beginning of
the course.
How will senior projects be completed
within session-based classes? Will
senior projects lose their basis of credibility, and will the work be
sacrificed due to a time restraint?
There are no
plans to change the senior project format; they will continue to be taught over
a 16-week term. It is expected that the
quality of work will remain high.
How will this affect my plan of
study? If I only take 4 classes per
semester, I will get behind. Will there
be a new plan of study?
Academic
Deans are working on a revised plan of study for session-based courses. Students will take two or three courses in a
given session and will remain on schedule to graduate in three years or less of
full time work.
Will classes be scheduled in both
sessions?
Most General
Education courses will be offered every session. Technical and major courses will be scheduled
as demand requires it. However, it is
likely that a course will not be scheduled in both sessions in a given
term. Contact your Academic Dean for
further details on when courses will be offered.
Will session-based classes be awarded
the same amount of credit hours as full 15-week classes?
Yes,
session-based delivery will not change the number of credit hours in a given
course.
Will there be an orientation for all
students? Also, are you redoing the
orientation for new students?
Workshops on
succeeding in session-based courses will be available to current students at
the end of February. For details, see
the announcement on the DeVry DuPage homepage.
The orientation for new students is currently being redesigned to
include this change to session-based classes.
Will the academic integrity of classes
deteriorate?
The DeVry
DuPage Academics Department has taken the lead in creating a required course
for all instructors incorporating the blended delivery mode of the session-based
courses. Course components range from topics dealing with adult education
philosophy and teaching techniques to the newest and most innovative technology
that can be incorporated into our teaching shells for each course. All of these
sessions were designed and delivered by DuPage faculty and deans. In addition to this, President
How will labs be carried out, and will
the coursework load be either lessened or increased to enable students to
finish in a shortened period of time?
Labs will not
automatically be changed with this transition to sessions. Students will only focus on 2 (maybe 3)
courses at one time, which will give them more time during the week to work on
and complete labs in the required time.
FINANCE
How will financial aid be distributed
over session based classes, and how will loans and scholarships be affected?
There will be
no impact on financial aid, loans or scholarship disbursement.All tuition and
financial aid will apply within first two weeks for Session A. Therefore,
students are encouraged to register for both sessions
simultaneously. As long as students register for at least 6 credit
hours over both sessions, they remain eligible for financial aid.
CAREER SERVICES
How will
graduation dates change?
There are no
plans to alter the three annual graduations (March, June, and October) although
some campuses have moved to 2 ceremonies each year. Dates and locations
are already in place for March and June 2008.
How will session-based classes affect
students seeking employment after graduation?
Session-based
classes will not change the way students interact with Career Services.
Whether students complete their classes in Session A or B, proactive career
services assistance will continue for six months following the March, June, and
October official graduation dates.
STUDENT SERVICES
I have a learning disability that
requires me to spend extra time reviewing material before I can master it. It
is already challenging for me to learn a subject like accounting in fifteen
weeks. What accommodations will I be eligible for to help me learn in an
accelerated format?
By law, every
student that has a documented learning disability is eligible to receive
reasonable accommodations on campus. The accommodations for which
students will be eligible will be determined according to the individual
student’s needs. It is recommended that any student that falls into this
category contact Robin Polansky in the