University sees high student demand for ‘winterim’ courses

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    LINCOLN, Nebraska (Lincoln Journal Star) — Seara Ontiveros wasn’t lacking for things to do over the longer-than-usual winter break at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The student from Grand Island is preparing to finish a degree in psychology this year as she works on grad school applications and works several jobs.

She also enrolled in a three-week class about plant identification put on by UNL during the “Winterim” — a portmanteau of “winter” and “interim,” the two-month period between regular semesters during an irregular time.

As the coronavirus upended life in higher education, both at UNL and at institutions across the country, the university decided to offer a pair of three-week sessions to keep students engaged in their learning.

Some of the classes offered are condensed versions of semester-long courses many students take to meet general education requirements, or to check off a box en route to their major.

Others, such as the class Ontiveros enrolled in, scratched a personal curiosity for the senior who cares for “a lot of house plants” and likes to go on hiking excursions.

“It was a one-credit class, which was perfect for me,” Ontiveros said. “I just wanted to find a topic that was interesting to me, and that’s the one that stuck out the most.”

In all, approximately 4,000 UNL students have earned a total of 10,000 credit hours across the six weeks between Thanksgiving and late January that university administrators sought to fill with engaging opportunities.

Amy Struthers, UNL’s campus experiential learning coordinator, said the university was leery of how successful the winter sessions would be following a brutal year for faculty and students.

After making an abrupt switch to finish the spring 2020 semester entirely online, and spending the summer preparing for classes to proceed in some combination of in-person and remote learning, Struthers said UNL wasn’t sure faculty or students would have the appetite for a winter term.

“It’s been hard for everyone in higher education to know what’s too much and what’s not enough when it comes to opportunities,” Struthers said.

UNL put out a call for proposals in June, asking faculty for their ideas of classes that would help students earn one to three credits toward their degree, advance their career and research skills or be something they’ve always wanted to teach.

By the end of summer, UNL had received 101 proposals, a response Struthers said reflected the “enthusiasm and energy” for the idea on campus.

UNL ultimately offered 60 of those courses in the three-week session that followed the fall semester and 70 classes for the three weeks following the New Year.

“What the pandemic did was give us a chance to experiment and kind of forced us to experiment in ways we wouldn’t have otherwise,” she said. “The sense of urgency provoked by the pandemic was motivating.”

Scott Stempson, a lecturer in the Department of History, said offering his History of Sport class in an asynchronous online format in the three-week session allowed more students to enroll than may have been able to under normal circumstances.

“There’s a lot of kids who can’t get into the class under normal situations,” Stempson said. “I thought it would be pretty popular, and there’s a certain draw for students in getting a full semester course done in three weeks.”

More than 140 students are enrolled in the class.

Future educators and speech language pathologists enrolled in Justin Olmanson’s Instruction Technology course, where they learn how technology can be used in classrooms and therapy settings. It’s intensive even during non-pandemic times.

Now, students are asked to join three-hour Zoom sessions three times a week, while completing assignments and working on a final project.

“Our students are extremely resilient and hardworking,” he said. “I have found they are up for the task as long as you tell them beforehand ‘This will be uncomfortable and you might not feel like you’re having a good time in the moment.'”

In the middle of the spring semester, which is set to begin next week, students may look back and be glad they got the class out of the way when they did, Olmanson added.

Despite the popularity of the three-week classes this year, Struthers said UNL has not made a decision on whether or not they will become a permanent part of the academic calendar.

“It gave us an opportunity to experiment, and there really was no concrete notion of what outcome we should have expected,” she said, “but students vote with their feet, and I think they are the best judge of what’s successful and what’s not.”

Ontiveros, whose course helped her meet the requirements of a scholarship as well as expand her knowledge about a subject she’s interested in, said she thinks UNL students would continue to take the three-week classes if they were offered in the future.

“Everyone should take a class if they get the chance,” she said.

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