How UMich courses differ between summer and the academic year

The University of Michigan offers three academic terms during the spring and summer: one 14-week term and two seven-week half-terms. These terms offer students opportunities to take additional coursework outside of the academic year. Courses during these terms often have smaller class sizes and fewer sections than fall and winter courses. 

Many courses condense the same material from their full-term counterparts into a half-term in order to adjust their schedules to fit the spring and summer semesters. Some introductory language courses, such as SPANISH 103, are specifically designed to cover two semesters of content in seven weeks. In addition to teaching more content in less time, instructors often offer these courses in a virtual format, providing an option for students who are not in Ann Arbor during the summer.

In an interview with The Michigan Daily, U-M alum Hannah Uebele said she took ENVIRON 244-Art in Nature: Micro to Macro in the spring 2021 term, which covered watercolor painting, a topic she didn’t have the time to study during the fall and winter.

“At first, I felt that I might have some interest in painting, but it would definitely get overshadowed by my responsibilities for other classes,” Uebele said. ”If I was taking (organic chemistry) and watercolors at the same time, you can bet that I would not have done any of my paintings — I’d just want to study for (organic chemistry). It gave me the opportunity to focus on the class a little bit more, even though it was virtual.”

However, Uebele said the short time between the end of winter term and the start of spring term classes may keep students from taking a much needed break after the end of the normal academic year.

“One thing I think people might forget is that the turnover time is very short,” Uebele said. “You have maybe a four-day weekend between the end of the winter semester and the beginning of the spring semester. That means that right after finals, I was jumping into my new classes. Especially with the virtual classes, it almost felt like exam season did not end and I just kept going.”

Uebele said she decided against taking summer coursework last year because she had accepted a research position.

“I just decided I wouldn’t be able to balance it in the way that I wanted to, especially when it comes to lab time, where you want to spend as much time as you physically can in the lab to get something done,” Uebele said. “You don’t want to spend time running around and dropping your experiments so you can head to class for research. It’s definitely an advantage to not have any classes at the same time.”

Uebele said summer courses present an opportunity for STEM students to balance their science-focused education with more humanities and arts courses.

“(STEM majors) don’t get a chance to appreciate the ‘literature’ and the ‘arts’ part of LSA (during the academic year),” Uebele said. “You really just focus on ‘science.’ I’ve seen a lot of people during the semester just fully shove those other classes to the wayside. I think it’s a bit of a shame, especially as someone who, in high school, really appreciated English class and art class. (Summer courses) are a way to kind of make space for yourself and give yourself a way to study other things without feeling the same pressures from your STEM classes.”

In an interview with The Daily, Ryan Hendrickson, lecturer and coordinator for first-year French courses, is teaching FRENCH 100 during the spring 2024 semester. The course is only available during the spring term and condenses the content of FRENCH 101 and 102, the introductory French courses, into seven weeks. Hendrickson said one sacrifice instructors make is focusing more on the language itself than French culture.

“We keep a lot of the culture here, but sometimes, we just have less time to devote to some of the conversations around the culture,” Hendrickson said. “One thing we do in a normal academic semester would be having students do a research project on a francophone country or region outside of France to discover more of the French-speaking world. During a shortened semester, with all the extra work and the speed of everything, that’s just not as realistic a project to have students do.”

Hendrickson said there are benefits and drawbacks to the course being offered virtually. 

“I see some benefits where certain students may not be able to fit this into their schedule otherwise, or they’re able to take it from home rather than staying in Ann Arbor during the spring and summer semesters,” Hendrickson said. “One difficulty is that it’s really easy to get distracted during an online course. Sometimes people are back living with their families, and we see family members walking around. Students might even feel embarrassed speaking French in front of their families for the first time.”

The course cap is the same for spring and summer French courses as French courses in the academic year, but fewer students typically attend during the spring or summer. Hendrickson said it was easier to give individual student feedback in half-terms due to smaller class size.

“This semester in FRENCH 100, we only have 11 students,” Hendrickson said. “With that number of students, it is easier to give more in-depth and more individualized feedback. There are certain days when I will have students working together in groups and then pull each student out into an individual breakout room. I either use that time for questions or to clarify something…I wouldn’t necessarily be able to do that during a regular semester with 18 students. 

In an interview with The Daily, Emilee Cardin, lecturer in Comprehensive Studies and Mathematics, said she is teaching MATH 115-Calculus I in the spring 2024 term. Cardin said instructors receive more responsibility over courses during half-terms due to the lack of a course coordinator.

“The summer classes are coordinated by the instructors, as opposed to a course coordinator,” Cardin said. “Usually, like in this semester, there’s one other instructor teaching MATH 115 with me, so we are writing the exams together instead of having someone above us who is doing that for us. We don’t always require team homework in the summer classes because that’s usually something that’s written by the coordinators. Since we have more direct control over our classes, we focus our energies on other things.”

The Mathematics Learning Center, a resource for free tutoring in math courses like MATH 115, is closed during the spring and summer terms. As an alternative, Cardin said Math instructors refer students to the Science Learning Center because it is open all year.

“We usually only refer students to the Science Learning Center in the spring and summer because the Math Lab is not there,” Cardin said. “Usually, my students are either using my office hours or the (MLC), and then in the spring or summer, they’re usually using my office hours or the SLC.”

Cardin said due to the faster pace of spring and summer courses, attendance is more important than during the academic year.

“I’m having to teach a little bit faster rather than taking a slower pace during a typical semester,” Cardin said. “That can be a challenge for students, but if they heed my many, many warnings about how quickly it moves, they aren’t missing too much. If they are missing classes, it’s increasingly likely they will fall behind on assignments, quizzes, and exams.”

Cardin said half-term courses may best fit students who take a more active approach to academic success.

“Summer classes serve students better who are more active and actively seek out support,” Cardin said. “During a regular semester, there’s a lot of inherent support. There (are) a lot of other people around studying…Over the summer, it’s a lot harder. There are people around that are not studying, they’re doing their internship or they’re just hanging around or working a (research assistant) job. Students need to be ready to keep track of all the moving parts and follow through with them, as opposed to having the other kind of support during a regular semester.”

Daily Staff Reporter Thomas Gala-Garza can be reached at tmgala@umich.edu.

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