The Compression Of Statics: Is There A Difference Between Summer Session And The Academic Year?

The Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara recently instituted a Summer session in which courses normally taught over a ten-week quarter are taught in six weeks. The purpose is to allow students to complete multiple-course sequences during one Summer session. We chose to include Statics, Dynamics, and Strength of Materials in the Summer since they are pivotal courses in our curriculum. Our study targets the Statics course and addresses whether the concentration of material into a six-week session affects students’ ability to achieve the desired learning outcomes. We have constructed an assessment program that consists of student focus groups, student surveys, an analysis of the performance and retention of students subsequent to taking Statics, and a standardized quiz administered to students approximately two years after taking the course. In this contribution, we discuss the assessment instruments in detail and our evaluation results to date. We have analyzed data from three ten-week offerings of Statics and three six-week offerings from 2001 to 2003. Our objective is to develop strategies that will minimize any negative, long-term effects of compressing course material and to build confidence in our program as the Summer quarter continues to expand at the University of California.