WNMU summer course schedule is now available

My wife took two psychology classes this semester. She really likes them. Her psychology classes seem to have more discussions than my history and political science courses.

I miss being a high school teacher. Ever since I became a professor I have not had a single summer off. I thought about two classes; however, the two I want to take are both taught July 6 to August 5. I think two courses would be a bit too much to attempt in such a short time.

 

If you end up taking the Studies in Ancient and Medieval Literature course, let me know how it is. That's my cup of tea

-Matt

 

I love what I do, but I hate the discipline aspect of teaching. It amazes me that parents have let their kids go like that. I'm hoping that in transitioning to dual enrollment courses, I can eventually go further and start adjuncting all together. At that point, I wouldn't care if my summers were off or not.

-Matt

 

I second that! I am a high school Spanish teacher and the discipline aspect of my job has just about ruined it for me. I even teach the AP course and I am still writing referrals for discipline. I thought it was just me, but we recently had a school wide meeting of all AP and pre AP teachers and they were complaining about the same thing. This also has to do with the fact that College Board is promoting anyone and everyone who has an interest in taking AP whether or not they have the grades or good discipline record to take it. So I commend you for dual enrollment and wish you the best.

What has also ruined it is the fact that I am also a Spanish adjunct professor at a for profit adult centered university. There are no discipline problems, no referrals, and I have students who actually want to be there and do the work. I don't want to say that my adult students are "perfect" in anyway. They're not, but, I'll take all of their toils and troubles and then some over high school discipline any day!

 

Unfortunately that is not my cup of tea. I'm the Short Story, Creative Writing, Creative Non Fiction, Children's Literature type of English graduate student!

 

Matt,

It looks like we are moving in opposite directions. I left secondary ed for higher ed several years ago. Lately I have been seriously thinking about leaving higher ed and returning to secondary ed. Having taught everything from K-grad student I can honestly say that I enjoyed secondary ed the most.

The discipline can be challenging; however, I was always complemented on my classroom management. What I get tired of is college/university politics.

Philip

 

I really do like teaching high school. I, like you, don't like the politics. I live in a community where the general population does not value education, and therefore the children don't either. It's sad because it's my home town and it was not this way 10-15 years go. I don't know what happened.

I started the WNMU program to help my school out by getting the credits to do the dual enrollment courses. I think I'm going to end up staying with WNMU, but I don't think I'm going to limit myself to only taking courses there. Part of me is considering taking grad level English courses to get the 18 hours in that as well. That way, if I do stay at my school, I could take over the DE ENglish as well when the current teacher leaves. I mentioned this to a colleage the other day and she asked me what made me think the current teacher would leave. My response was that "they always do" ;-)

Of course, I also have to consider what my wife is doing. We might be moving in the next few years as she starts a speech language pathology program. But that's the good thing about me participating in online programs!

-Matt

 

I'm looking forward to it. It may be the only course I take through WNMU for a while. I applied for a program at Tennessee Tech in Instructional Leadership and it starts a few days after the WNMU course ends. If I don't get accepted I plan on moving ahead full steam at WNMU (along with working on a research proposal).

 

Geee, with 9 credits in 1 month somebody could be theoretically done with the whole program in under 4 month. If only they would offer this 1 moth course system all around the year...
I'm kinda new to the summer school system. Is this actually the same course load of a regular one squeezed into a shorter time period or are these of a different structure?

 

Yes, it is an entire 4 month semester squeezed into one month. If you take multiple classes during the same month you can expect to spend most of your waking hours doing schoolwork.

I suppose someone could complete a masters in 4 months. It would be a lot of work. I did my first masters in 14 months. Most of the courses were taken during 5 week summer sessions. I did 12 units each summer and 3 during the fall and spring semesters. Those summers were tough.

 

I too will be taking advantage of the summer sessions. I just signed up for Positive and sports psych. Six credits in two months...sounds pretty good.

 

Using the standard assumption that a 3 credit graduate course taught over 16 weeks requires 10 hours of work a week, it's very optimistic to complete three graduate courses in 4 weeks.

16 week course = 10 hours work per week
8 week course = 20 hours work per week
4 week course = 40 hours work per week

x 3 classes means that realistically, you can expect that it will take 120 hours a week to compete the requirements of 3 courses in 4 weeks!

The intent of 4-week graduate courses is that they would be taken one course at a time.

 

That really puts it in perspective. I suppose I was jumping the gun. I'm just excited about getting the credits done. As a 27 year old who is fortune to have genes that cause balding and high blood pressure, I suppose I shouldn't stress myself out, even if I will be off for the summer. I'm going to drop the Economic Development of Latin America (which I had no real interest in anyway) and take a course at APU over the May-June session instead. That will spread the courses out some.

Thanks for the wake up call!
-Matt

 

Do you plan on transfering that course at APU to WNMU? Can you transfer in courses from another university once you've been admitted into WNMU? If so, what's the max?

 

According to page 375 of the WNMU catalog you can transfer up to six credits.

 

What classes did you keep? I am enrolled in world politics: the good, bad, ugly.

I too was thinking about taking a class at APU. My only complaint with WNMU is that they are very focues on Latin America. Since one of my previous degrees was in Geography I really would like a historical perspective on the rest of the world. Since my summer break is May 9 to June 22 I could just fit APU's history of central asia into my schedule.

 

I usually tell my students that a 3 unit class requires 3 hours on campus and 3 hours outside of class for each unit. Thus, one could argue for 12 hours per week in a 16 week semester. That said, most students develop more efficient study habits by the time they get to graduate school. So, perhaps your numbers are pretty close. Either way, I cannot imagine 3 classes during a 4 week summer session.

 

I would think about why you want to earn your graduate degree. I saw my undergraduate degree as simply something in the way of me being able to take graduate courses and I was happy that I was able to test out of many classes. However, graduate school on the other hand is going to be much more about the journey for me as opposed to the destination. Yes, I want to earn my masters degree but I don't want to test out of it nor do I want to cheat myself in the process because I'm studying something that I really enjoy. I want to make sure I learn the material along the way.

I'm assuming that you are entering a graduate program for a subject in which you have a strong interest. My advice is to balance finishing it within a reasonable time frame with taking your time to focus on the coursework and material taught. I think in the end, you'll have a much more rewarding experience.

Many graduate programs consider 9 credits in a 16-week semester a full time course load.

 

This is my second masters, so technically I don't even need the degree. I'm only doing the WNMU to get 18 hours in History and Political Science so I can teach Dual Enrollment courses at the high school where I work.

Given that some of the courses are interesting, I would like to transfer some of them into another degree. But it all comes down to credits at this point. I need 18 hours of both subjects. (Really, 18 in Political Science and 12 in History becuase the community college will count 6 of my polysci classes as history because they are cross listed in the WNMU catalog.)

-Matt

 

I'm signed up for World Politics as well. And I've noticed the Latin America thing as well. I suppose it's regional. The College of William and Mary focuses on Colonial History, which makes sense given its location. I see that WNMU has a history course in its catalog that's called "Ancient and Medieval Civilizations" which I'll definitely take if they offer it.

At APU I've already taken 2 Polysci classes, one of the presidency and the other on political parties. In May they're offering 2 I'm interested in. One is on Legislatures and the other is on Federalism. I'm not sure which one I'll choose.

By the way, did you do your geography degree online? I've been looking to get 18 hours in that as well, and I know ODU offers at least 9 credits, but I didn't know where to look for the other 9.

-Matt