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At many colleges and universities across the country, summer sessions are much shorter than their counterparts during the regular academic year. This summer, in addition to the regular curriculum, SCAD will also offer courses at an accelerated pace.

“Students have asked about condensed courses in the summer,” said Jeff Eley, vice president of academic affairs. “Some students are non-traditional … the condensed classes may be a better fit.”

The five-week courses will be offered during both the first and last part of the regular summer quarter. Condensed classes will meet four days a week for two and a half hours.

Much discussion and research have gone into the program. In collaboration with faculty, the deans and chairs are determining the impact and which courses will be most successful.

Most, if not all, faculty teaching the condensed courses volunteered. Many have offered input into what classes would be best suited to the format.

Dean of Film and Digital Media Weishar said, “Some professors’ teaching styles lend themselves to a five week class.”

Many details are still being resolved; exactly what courses will be offered is still to be decided.

Eley expects to finalize the details within the next couple of weeks. “The key thing is patience. Soon we’ll have information,” he said.

Dean of Communication Arts Andy Fulp said that the shortened sessions will only be at Savannah. Teaching the courses at Atlanta would involve too many unknowns whereas Savannah is a more established environment.

Because the five week sessions are a pilot program, students will likely be required to offer more feedback than they would in a regular class.

Dean of Film and Digital Media Peter Weishar said, “We will keep an extra eye on the five week courses and see the feedback, quality of work and popularity of the class.”

Eley said, “This is an opportunity to really carefully look at the successes and initiate positive things. We’ll see how things work and how to configure them to look for the best way to teach effectively. We’ll address the interest of students and the demands of individual courses.”

Fulp said, “[The shorter classes] have to have the success, knowledge and skill of any other course.”

Although she’s not interested in taking any summer classes, Laura Everill, an undecided first year student said, “For those that would, it’s a good idea.”

Third year film and television student Mickey Heffernan said, “I’m totally for it … It’s the way ‘real’ summer school works. It’s not anything strange or out of the ordinary.”

Although SCAD plans to offer a variety of classes in a variety of different majors and levels, the number of courses will be limited because the program is still in the testing phase. Every major under communication arts will offer a few classes, according to Fulp. Weishar said that the school of film and digital media would have approximately five courses in each session.

Fulp said, “The courses will have a condensed time frame, but not a condensed subject matter.”

Syllabi for the courses will be identical to their 10 week counterparts. Students will be required to finish in one week something that may usually be given two weeks to complete. According to Fulp, students can gain more insight into the business world by working under the tighter deadlines. By preparing for an abbreviated timeframe, students can learn to better prioritize and manage their time.

Fulp said that there are several other benefits to the condensed sessions. By taking a prerequisite the first session and the follow-up the second, students can take a sequence of courses in one quarter. Students can leave Savannah earlier by taking courses during the first session, possibly enabling them to start their careers sooner. The condensed class work may also teach students new solutions to problems that might not come up in a regular length class, such as techniques to speed drying times.

Most likely, there won’t be as many studios available in shorter sessions because of the tremendous amount of time required to fulfill the requirements. Many agreed that there are certain courses that are just not feasible under a shortened time frame.

Professor Roger Walton said, “Some classes would lend themselves well to five weeks of Monday through Thursday classes such as Life Painting. Other courses would not work well with fewer weekends of homework, such as the Materials and Techniques of Rubens.”

“Lecture courses would work well, but there’s not very many [in film and digital media]. Usually a class with a technical aspect, building upon a skill day by day, lends itself to a five week schedule,” Weishar said. “Sometimes 10 weeks is too long.”

“There won’t be any thesis classes in five weeks. That’s just not enough time. Some film classes need time to edit, which isn’t doable in five weeks,” he said.

Heffernan said, “It would be impossible to do film in five weeks; the 10 week quarters can be too short.”

Some classes Heffernan said that he would be interested in taking at a faster pace would be Screenwriting or Intro to Film in the film department or an art history or foundations course, such as Life Drawing.

Fulp said that he encourages students interested in taking a course on an abbreviated schedule to speak with an adviser or professor first. “Students have to know what they’re getting into. We don’t want to surprise anyone and have them not able to handle it.”

First year industrial design student Maddy Gibson said, “[The condensed courses] would probably be best to take one at a time only.”

Fulp said that SCAD would likely limit the amount of accelerated pace classes students can take to prevent them from becoming overloaded.

As to whether or not the condensed sessions will be offered in subsequent quarters, Weishar said that it depends on the success of the pilot.

Heffernan said, “It would be nice to have some sort of school financial aid for the summer. Tons of other colleges have things such as school-funded scholarships for summer sessions.”