Three-credit hour classes and five classes per semester may be the new norm for Otterbein students starting in the 2018-19 academic year.
On August 29, Otterbein’s Curriculum Committee approved a plan to change the standard of four-credit hours per class to three-credit hours.
Committee members said the plan would make Otterbein less reliant on part-time faculty and provide more flexibility for students. According to administrators on the committee, it would be easier for students to double major or minor.
Class length would change to three 50-minute sessions or two 75-minute sessions. The change would impact current first and second-year students, since it would take effect in the 2018-19 academic year.
University Senate will take up the proposal at its Sept. 14 meeting.
Otterbein administrators said the change would benefit students. Kate Lehman, assistant dean for student success and member of the Curriculum Committee, said students could be helped with the flexibility of a three-credit model.
The focus on minors is just one part of the scheduling challenges in transitioning to a three-credit model.
Wendy Sherman Heckler, associate vice president for academic affairs and dean of University Programs and a member of the curriculum committee, voted for the proposal. She said that credit hours need to be uniform to ensure classes do not become incompatible during scheduling.
“We have class modules that fit with the four-credit hour class time, so if you’re taking a five-hour class, suddenly you’re blocked from now taking classes in that other module,” Heckler said. “That happens sometimes with science labs that go on a couple of modules or field experiences.”
Another Transition
A large-scale curriculum change has been executed in Otterbein’s recent past. In 2008, Otterbein’s Senate passed a proposal that converted the curriculum from being divided into quarters into the semester system currently in place.
Kate Lehman, assistant dean for student success and member of the Curriculum Committee, who voted for the three-credit proposal, oversaw the transition in the fall of 2011.
“[First, second and third year students] did an individual advising plan with their adviser that was a map that showed their degree requirements, what they had met with their quarter requirements and what they still would take in the semester classes,” Lehman said.
Lehman said Student Success gave students “The Otterbein Promise,” stating that there would be no extra time to graduation, no loss of academic progress and no increased cost.
