Administration

Communications

2012 fall 3-week term
Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Culver-Stockton College’s fall 3-week session of classes has begun. The 2012 fall 3-week is full of dynamic and unique courses for students, and multiple travel courses have been offered.

At least 10 classes have overnight traveling integrated into the coursework this term, and many others have day trips planned. Traveling provides students with the experiential learning Culver-Stockton is becoming known for. For example, Joe Jorgensen, a professor of art led a group of students to a Paris, Rome and Florence to see the world’s masterpieces firsthand. Two other professors, Dr. Scott Giltner and Dr. Lauren Schellenberger, joined together to take 18 students to Belize and Guatemala for two weeks. The two professors are technically teaching different courses-- Dr. Giltner’s students are taking “Environmental History,” and Dr. Schellenberger’s students are taking “Tropical Ecology”-- but are taking an interdisciplinary approach to the trip. The two groups of students will be participating in the same activities, with a different focus for the writing assignments and quizzes. The group will interact with indigenous cultures, spend three days in the rainforest, and snorkel in the world’s second largest coral reef.

“We hope that the courses and the experience will allow students to better understand the history and culture of Central America, to have a basic grasp of the principles of tropical ecology and environmental history, and to be able to better understand those principles by hands-on investigation in the same place the conduct their investigations,” says Dr. Giltner. “We also hope that the experience prompts them to want to become lifelong travelers, who are also sensitive to the circumstances of the people they visit and responsible in terms of how they impact the environments of the places they visit. All of these goals, I believe, are much more attainable because we are traveling to the places we are studying; thus allowing us to make concrete the principles we are learning and to give a face to the people we are learning about.”

Extended international trips are not the only traveling during C-SC’s 3-week. During one day trip, five classes joined together to travel to a National Guard Training Course in Macon, Mo. Sixty-eight students participated in several leadership-building activities, including a team-building obstacle course and playing paintball. “The main goal for the National Guard trip is for students to have real experiences with group communication when an element of tension is present,” says Christine Tracy, lecturer in communication. “After doing various activities, like paintballing and storming a building, students were asked to reflect on what roles they took during the exercise, along with what forms of verbal and nonverbal communication they used. It can be a real eye-opener.”

Travel is only one aspect of the 3-week term, and not all courses will travel. For classes with no travel activities, the length of time and intensive nature of the class provides a unique affect. “Spending five hours a day with my class for three weeks allows us to accomplish very different tasks than spending 3 hours a week together for the semester,” says Haidee Heaton, associated professor of theatre. “For example, my class is immersing themselves in their directing capstone course this 3-week. They have the entire three weeks to rehearse their one act production. It is a fantastic way for the students who are not traveling to be involved in an area they might otherwise not be a part of during the 12-week session of the semester.”

C-SC is one of only two schools in the nation to implement the 12/3 semester calendar, and the school is now in the fifth year of the program. This schedule allows students to focus on fewer classes at once, and it allows professors to integrate a higher-level of active and experiential learning into classes. Many students choose to complete internships during the 3-week. The 12/3 calendar is only one way that Culver-Stockton has implemented new theories and programs to benefit students. Other examples included the 4-Year Graduation Guarantee and e-portfolios. All programs are implemented to keep in touch with an ever-changing student market. “Students truly learn differently than they used to,” says College President Richard Valentine. “Instead of forcing them to adapt to an old-fashioned method, we are adapting to fit the way our students think.”