ThelmaLou Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 How many hours outside of class should I expect my son to be studying during a summer session? I'm looking toward having him take a Speech class (introductory). I spoke with one professor who said in addition to the 2 hours in class, expect to spend 1 hour outside of class (if he's a good student). Then I spoke to the dual enrollment coordinator who gave me a "general rule" of two hours outside of class for every hour spent in class. That would be an additional 4 hours/day after class. I was hoping he'd be able to have at least a part time job this summer, but I don't know about that if he's going to be spending 2 hours in class, 4 hours out of class, and commute time. Any perspective would be helpful. Thanks! Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 (edited) How many hours outside of class should I expect my son to be studying during a summer session? I'm looking toward having him take a Speech class (introductory). I spoke with one professor who said in addition to the 2 hours in class, expect to spend 1 hour outside of class (if he's a good student). Then I spoke to the dual enrollment coordinator who gave me a "general rule" of two hours outside of class for every hour spent in class. That would be an additional 4 hours/day after class. It depends on the class. For the course I teach, 2 hours out of class for every hour in class are definitely required during the normal semester. If the course is taught as a summer class, it is equivalent in content and gives the same amount of credit, so the same rule would apply there. In general, I do not think it makes a difference whether the course is taught as a summer session or as a regular session: if it earns the same credit, the workload should be the same, just compressed into a shorter amount of time. The instructor may try to structure the course differently in order to reduce the amount of outside work during the summer, but it is not something you can tacitly assume. I would try to find out how much the students actually have to work for the course by asking somebody who has taken the class. There are easier classes where the students get by with less outside work than 2 hours per class hour. If the instructor says, one hour of outside work per two hour session is sufficient, it is a very easy class. But you need to talk to the instructor who will be teaching the very session your son is interested in, as these things vary between courses. Edited February 15, 2012 by regentrude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 How many hours outside of class should I expect my son to be studying during a summer session? I'm looking toward having him take a Speech class (introductory). I spoke with one professor who said in addition to the 2 hours in class, expect to spend 1 hour outside of class (if he's a good student). Then I spoke to the dual enrollment coordinator who gave me a "general rule" of two hours outside of class for every hour spent in class. That would be an additional 4 hours/day after class. I was hoping he'd be able to have at least a part time job this summer, but I don't know about that if he's going to be spending 2 hours in class, 4 hours out of class, and commute time. Any perspective would be helpful. Thanks!Lisa How often does the class meet? Is it daily for a short session or weekly or twice weekly for a couple months? For a speech class, I would anticipate that they would either be dissecting some classic speeches or writing and giving their own just about every class session. So how quickly can your son write a speech and have it ready to present? Also, with a compressed schedule course like summer session, there is less time to deal with any learning curve. That may make homework time more intense. That doesn't mean he couldn't have a part time job. But it may mean that he doesn't have much free time to just hang out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThelmaLou Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 The class will meet 4 days/week for two hours/day. If the DE coordinator is right, that would be an additional 4 hours of homework a day in addition to the two hours of class. I'm afraid for him to take a job and get in a crisis situation with studying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 The class will meet 4 days/week for two hours/day. If the DE coordinator is right, that would be an additional 4 hours of homework a day in addition to the two hours of class. I'm afraid for him to take a job and get in a crisis situation with studying. He should contact the instructor who will be teaching this particular class and ask him/her for how much outside time he should plan. Anybody else will be able to make only generic suggestions which may or may not apply to this specific course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 He should contact the instructor who will be teaching this particular class and ask him/her for how much outside time he should plan. Anybody else will be able to make only generic suggestions which may or may not apply to this specific course. Exactly! And don't forget that the "rule" of two hours outside class for each hour in class is what's required during the week - not daily - for a normal semester class. It's hard to apply the same formula to summer courses as they're obviously shorter and more condensed, but for the most part - a bit lighter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth S Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 With an Intro to Speech class, it depends WIDELY on the student. My dd easily stands up in front of a group and can explain things off-the-top-of-her-head rather well. She did not need a lot of prep for the five speeches she was required to give over the semester. Also, there was a lot of lecture, which was pretty much common sense. The teacher was beloved by all, and near retirement. However, our middle child is an introvert and will need to prep a LOT for speeches, almost memorizing the content. Our local comm college offers an alternative: the lecture component is dealt with on-line, and the students come on-campus to give their speeches to each other. If your son is looking for a part-time summer job, he may consider tutoring or some other on-campus job like working in the library. It can ease the transition between school & job, avoiding wasted commuting time and conflicts.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brindee Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 We asked, and found out that our CC doesn't do dual enrollment for the summer session! :( So make sure yours does before making too many plans! I'm sure you have, just thought I'd throw this in, just in case. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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