Written By | Erik Herrera |
Changes at Amarillo College are being made as the first set of eight-week classes that started this January have ended. Even though not all AC classes are eight weeks long, administrators plan to make 80 to 90 percent of the 16-week classes into eight-week courses, which they believe will benefit both full- and part-time students.
One reason classes are being shortened to eight weeks is to give part-time students a chance to attend AC on a full-time basis. Part-time students who might be taking two classes at the moment will be able to take twice as many classes by splitting them into two half-semesters. Part-time and full-time students can take two eight-week classes the first half of the semester and two other classes the second half.
The change also will give full-time students a chance to take more classes in a semester, making the process of earning credits and graduating faster.
Twin sisters Lori and Leslie Arredondo, both criminal justice majors, said they liked the eight-week classes better than the 16-week-long classes. They said it didn’t add stress and that they were able to focus more since it was an everyday class and not a hybrid one.
The Arredondo sisters, who took a math course the first eight weeks, said they would like to see fewer chapters covered in the shorter course. Efrael Gonzalez, an engineering major who also took an eight-week class, said, “It didn’t add more stress to my life.
“I think that it will make things faster, and it was a good idea that Amarillo College did this change, because it will cut a degree time in half.” Because some eight-week classes are hybrid and some are four days long, Gonzalez said, “It would be better if hybrid courses were four days out of the week instead.”
Triston Salinas, a business administration major, said, “It’s what you sign up for, and I like the stress of school” in regard to classes being harder because of the eight-week schedule. Michelle Quintana, a criminal justice major who is taking four eight-week courses this semester, said it hasn’t been challenging and thinks it is a good idea. “I really don’t think I would make any changes, because these classes have really been great for me,” Quintana said.
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