According to a recent article in Inside Higher Ed, Doane College in Crete, Nebraska, will be eliminating its “interterm,” or J-term, as we would call it at the University. The college is concerned with a decline in the academic rigor of the courses and a lack of student engagement.
At Doane College, interterm courses used to be mandatory, with three required in the course of four years. Now that the college is eliminating the interterm courses, they are also reducing the number of credits students need to graduate, from 132 to 123. The mandate may be the first indication of why student engagement was limited. A lack of interest would be good reason to make the January courses optional, not to do away with them altogether.
J-terms offer students the opportunity to earn more credits, learn about subjects they wouldn’t otherwise learn and study abroad for shorter periods of time. The University offers J-term classes that are unique to that academic period, both on-Grounds and abroad. J-term is not only a learning but also a travel opportunity. Many students who may not feel comfortable going to another country for an entire semester, but want to keep their summers open in order to have a job, can fulfill their desires to study abroad through J-term courses.
J-term also offers the opportunity for more flexible scheduling. Students might prefer to take one fewer class during the regular semester and then make up for it in January. Or a student may be able to graduate early by taking classes in addition to the credits they earn during the regular spring and fall semester, and early graduation is an especially important prospect for low-income students.
As far as academic rigor, J-terms have the potential to be just as, or even more challenging, than classes during the regular semester. Such qualities depend on the way the courses are designed and the standards of the professors. The total hours of class in a J-term are roughly equal to the total hours of a class during the spring or the fall. Although there may not be enough time to complete as much reading outside of class, if students are committed to the J-term classes, they can complete a substantial amount of reading in the time between the end of the fall semester and the start of their J-term.
To make a J-term or “interterm” mandatory may force students into the classes who are not truly invested in earning the credits or truly interested in the material. But J-term should remain an option for students who take full advantage of the opportunity.
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