Creative Approaches to Summer Programs Increase Demand
“Enrollment in summer programs is outstanding,乔希·摩尔说。, who directs the Center for Immersive and Experiential Learning Opportunities at the college. “We have 85 students enrolled in two Summer Blocks and five Summer Mods. This is nearly three times last year’s enrollment.”
夏季街区和mod are taught by 贝洛伊特 faculty members, with Blocks running three weeks and Mods following a seven-week format. 的se classes intensify learning around a single course in a shorter period of time.
的 Center for Language Studies, taught this year through virtual immersion, blends innovative cultural and small group activities like virtual reality with online instruction. 的 program doubled its enrollment to 114 students this year, and Moore says about 90 percent are coming from outside 十大菠菜台子. This summer, the program added Portuguese, which is rising as a critical world language. 贝洛伊特 alumna and experienced instructor Ligia Costa’13 is teaching two sections of Portuguese for 贝洛伊特 from her home in Brazil. 中国人, 日本, and Russian are also taught in an immersive format that amounts to a year’s worth of college study in one summer.
Moore says a number of factors contributed to increased demand for CLS courses this summer. 的 Center for Language Studies rolled out the John Wyatt Award for Language Immersion, a new financial award named for Wyatt, who founded CLS in 1982 and was a beloved 贝洛伊特 professor of classics and comparative literature from 1971 to 1996. 的 award is designed to broaden access to language study and assist students who are experiencing financial challenges. CLS plans to raise additional funds around the scholarship to extend its reach.
New programs also debuted this summer that tap into the historic events unfolding around students. 一个, titled Writing Wherever You Are: Summer Reflection and Writing, offered two sections that filled up almost overnight. Developed and taught by Professors of 英语 Chuck Lewis and Michael Dango, this course offers a customized tutorial writing practice that engages students’ current experiences for reflection and meaning-making. 贝洛伊特的 Weissberg Program in Human Rights 和新的 频道节目 helped support the cost of this special interdisciplinary course.
Students whose internships and jobs were a casualty of the pandemic had a chance to turn a hardship into an opportunity over summer. 撰写本文时, 37 students were enrolled in 的 Internship Workshop, a half-credit reflection course originally intended to accompany any internship or work experience, 但要适应2020年. With many students needing to stay at home, the class allows them to take their alternate plans—such as helping with family home maintenance, 照看兄弟姐妹, or starting an online enterprise—and turn those projects into an internship of their own creation.
的 cost of all courses normally held on 贝洛伊特的 campus are lower this summer because no room and board charges apply. Moore says planning for summer 2020 courses was also done carefully so that many options carry enough academic credit for students to qualify for financial aid.
