<p>Does anyone have experience with Jterm STS classes? I am considering taking one to free some time up for what is going to be a difficult spring semester. I am interested in how the classes are formatted. What is a typical day like? Would you recommend it? Thanks</p>
<p>I took two STS J-term classes and can’t stress enough about how much I got out of them and how much I enjoyed them. I had two years where I had 5 weeks and a few days of vacation due to the way my finals schedule shook out, which was just too much time at home being bored and I wanted to take extra classes to be able to fit in classes outside of the eschool during the semester. I fully enjoyed both classes.</p>
<p>As for the format, every class can be different, but for the most part you attend class for about 5-6 hours a day and it’s anywhere from 10-20 people in the class, max. Both of my professors were very, very good about breaking up the day so it wasn’t sitting in a seat listening to a lecture for the full day. They knew that we wanted to be there and weren’t just taking a class to take a class. We had individual projects, group projects, interactive presentations, and movies. The first class I took had a minor project at the end of the course that was the “final exam” where we researched certain topics and wrote a short paper and did a small presentation of our findings. Our last class was watching a feature-length film in the afternoon after spending the morning discussing current topics related to the class and giving feedback to the professor. My second class had a group paper as well as an oral “final exam” and included a field trip in the second week. You get to know your classmates quickly and it’s quite a bit of fun to be all together for such a long daily duration but during such a short “semester”.</p>
<p>My one suggestion is research the class, research the professor, and decide from there. I would highly suggest taking a class that interests you, otherwise you’ll get bored and grumpy quickly. My other suggestion is to make the most of it and don’t think of it as wasting a break. Take something that interests you and might stretch your boundaries a bit. I filled an STS or technical elective requirement with both classes I took and it was a lot of fun to take a much-less stressful class and really make the most of it.</p>
<p>Thanks shoebox. That was very helpful. I will look into the class and professor.</p>
<p>Let me know if you have any more questions, I’ll try my best to remember those days. Honestly I had a blast and can’t think of any long-lasting negativities, other than the last class it kept snowing (that was the winter of Snowpocalypse and Cville got hit hard Dec/Jan) and it was miserable trying to get to class. Thankfully our professor rearranged our classes a bit and made group/individual work in the beginning of class so people weren’t stressed trying to get in right on the dot. Again, the professor and class topic, IMO, will make or break your experience, but I would do it again in a heartbeat.
For what it’s worth, I looked at the class offerings and Jterm has seemed to have really expanded over the years. Woo!</p>