Tangentish

Open summer school

Every summer, most universities go on a vacation of their own. They offer a smattering or general education, introductory, a or impacted classes, but few operate at anywhere near capacity.

This gives their facilities and faculty a much needed break. But it could also be an opportunity to educate the community at little cost to the university.

Premise:

Every summer host free summer school classes for the community:

• Offer anyone 18 or older living near the university the opportunity to propose a class they are passionate about and willing to teach for free.

• Offer anyone 18 or older living near the university the opportunity to attend one or two free classes.b

• When open summer school ends, offer the top rated classes the next school year at the university.

Needs:

• University donates a handful of classrooms for a little more than a month.

• Volunteers facilitate the teacher registration, voting, student registration, and course rating process.c

Risks and Mitigations:

• University liability (conduct background checks on selected teachers and have all students sign waivers).

• University property (teachers use their own equipment).

• University reputation (clearly label and publicize it as a service to the community, not something taught by employees or representative of the views of the university).

Benefits:

• Strengthen the connections between people in the community.

• Improve the relationship between the community and the university.

• Discover topics that are relevant and interesting to students.

• Discover talented teachers.

Potential Steps:

1. Three Months Before Open Summer Classes Start:

   • With no pre-requisites other than age (over 18) and a willingness to be subjected to a background check if selected, invite potential teachers to register their potential classes:

   • Their registration would require teachers provide the following information:

     • Title of the course.

     • Description of material to be covered in the course.

     • Why they are knowledgeable about the subject.

     • Why they are passionate about the subject.

     • The general method/teaching philosophy/format they plan on utilizing.

     • What they'd want their students to gain from their class.

2. Two Months Before Open Summer Classes Start:

   • After filtering out the obviously fake/inappropriate/illegal classes, post all the legitimate classes up for voting in the community.

3. One Month Before Open Summer Classes Start:

   • Take the top 30 classes from voting and (after vetting the teachers through background checks) schedule them in the following 6 time blocks in 5 venues on campus:

     • Mon/Wed 6:10-7pm, 7:10-8pm, 8:10-9pm

     • Tue/Thu 6:10-7pm, 7:10-8pm, 8:10-9pm

   • Open registration to anyone in the community over 18 (up to 2 classes).

4. Open Summer Classes Start

   • The 50 minute classes occur twice a week for 5 weeks (500 minutes of total instruction).

   • Faculty are encouraged to voluntarily attend classes to gauge effectiveness and offer advice to the volunteer teachers.

5. Open Summer Classes Finish:

   • Everyone rates the courses they took.

6. Two weeks After Open Summer Classes Finish:

   • The highest rated courses are announced.

   • The winning teachers gain the opportunity to expand their class to a full quarter/semester and be paid for their time as any normal lecturer would. The department could choose to keep or not keep the class beyond the first quarter/semester.