With course registration for the spring semester already underway, observant students might have noticed something different about classes that are scheduled to meet on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
According to a memorandum originally released April 7, there will now be 15-minute periods between all classes beginning in spring 2015. This means that standard classes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays will now begin five minutes later per hour after 8 a.m.
The Office of the Registrar as well as the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and the Provost could both have been more proactive about communicating these impending changes and the rationale behind them to students and faculty.
The changes are supposedly intended to improve the efficiency of classroom use after a report in 2013 gave several recommendations. Having an additional five minutes between classes could also encourage more diversity of learning. Students sometimes dismiss classes that might interest them but are taught in buildings far away from the hall that houses their major, for example.
While we applaud the University’s efforts to ensure that all classrooms are being used efficiently and effectively, implementing such sweeping changes in the middle of the academic year without seeking significant student input seems unnecessarily rushed.
