Would you take this class structure during the semester?

Every 1/2 semester before midterms you can take "patchy classes"

Patchy classes are classes that run for 4 hour segments throughout the semester. You need to take half the segments before test 1 (segments 1-4), and the other half before test 2 (segments 5-8). After you take all 8 parts of the class in your own time (when they are offered) then you get credit for the course.

Different faculty teach different portions of the course through the semester. A single faculty will teach their part of the course multiple times through the semester.


Benefits:
-cheap on the university
-money for the university
-cheap for student
-convenient for student
-classes during actual session
-not online (cheap for university, good for student)



Old idea the Patch Class idea is based on:
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I thought about a way to get an online class in a classROOM. Online classes are great, but they often don't allow a student to jump ahead when they want. So the student can't do 4 hours of work to stay ahead of schedule. They can only do things on schedule.

That mold can be broken if done in person.

And the classroom mold can be broken if students can get all the material they need in a small window of time, then they take their own time to review that info.


Here's the deal:

You are in class about 150 minutes a week, and across 16 weeks, that's 2,400 minutes...or 40 hours.

I propose that a class structured as

2 16 hour lectures (32 hours)
2 4 hour tests (8 hours)
2 days for course review before each test
1 day off between test 1 and lecture 2

= 9 total days per course (LrrTrLrrT)

follows meets the same demands as a regular college course for students who want to get a class out of the way.

You still have to have the 3 hours per hour you are in class built into the course review, and those 2 days off between lecture and test more than fulfill that.

The 16 hour lecture will have a couple of breaks. The class could go from 7am until 11pm, and adjusted for breaks that are needed.

What's good about the test aspect, and that aspect following the rules of the university, is you can get an actual letter grade and not a pass/fail grade in this course.

Next, you are probably wondering about how you can fit a course like this in your busy college schedule.

There are a couple of ways around this including being able to switch sections after test 1. But the obvious is this:

SMTWTFSSM - days of the week
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LrrTrLrrT - L=lecture; r=rest day; T=test

The test can be scheduled with the universities testing center and can be taken at any time the student wishes 48 hours after the 1st lecture and 12 hours before lecture 2.



All in all...
You're basically fitting an entire course into the time it takes for a long drive...or the time it takes to listen to a long audiobook. Except, you'll be tested on the audiobook. You get college credit. It's like testing out of something, but you just go to class for 2 lectures and take the test.