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CAOS Forums => Questions and Answers => Topic started by: Pradeep C Unde on 2005-06-05T19:24:56-05:00 (Sunday)

Title: Anybody for shifting CS516 as an evening course for fall 2005?
Post by: Pradeep C Unde on 2005-06-05T19:24:56-05:00 (Sunday)
I am trying to find out if more people are interested for shifting CS516 as an evening course. I was told that many students may prefer that as an evening course and if I get many students' YES for this, we could build a case. I personally prefer the evening ones as I am a working student. :-)
Title: Re: Anybody for shifting CS516 as an evening course for fall 2005?
Post by: Cliff on 2005-07-19T11:58:50-05:00 (Tuesday)
I agree that CS516 (a core course for the MS degree) should be offered as an evening course.  In fact, the SIUE graduate catalog states that "In order to accommodate those students that work full time, all core courses and the majority of elective courses are offered in the evening."

Unfortunately for the graduate students who pay their tuition by working during the day, the department does _not_ offer "all core courses... in the evening" as the catalog promises.

In fact, CS516 and also CS514, another core course, have not been offered in the evening in the past two years (maybe longer), and CS516 and CS514 currently are being offered at 12:00 noon, which makes it very difficult for working students to earn a degree.

As every student has learned, the catalog is a contract between the student and the university.  By following the requirements in the catalog, the student will fulfill his obligation to the university and earn his degree.

What happens when the university does not live up to its half of the obligation by doing what it has promised in the graduate catalog?

I hope that the department will appreciate that many graduate students have chosen to study in the CS department (and have paid significant $$ in tuition) specifically because of its promised "evening program", of which 12:00 noon courses are a severe inconvenience.

This post isn't meant to be harsh or embarrassing to the department, on the contrary I am very pleased with the department and would love to find a way to continue my studies there.  But after completing over a year's worth of study and spending $1000's on tuition, many of us are faced with the unfortunate dilemma: do we quit our jobs to take the 12:00 noon classes or find another university at which to study?  We really shouldn't have to make this decision since the department has an "evening program", right?
Title: Re: Anybody for shifting CS516 as an evening course for fall 2005?
Post by: Jerry on 2005-07-19T21:55:40-05:00 (Tuesday)
Both these course were offered in the evening in the 2003-2004 academic year. In 2004-2005 academic year they were both offered in a 3:30pm time slot. It is importatnt to know that there are a number of constraints that the Department Chair has to adhere when it comes to making the course schedule not the least of which is availability of classroom space.

I recall having a discussion with Dr. Waxman about the time slot for 2004 but I don't remember the details. I know he wanted to try a late afternoon time like 4:30pm, but was unable to get a room at this time.

For the upcoming academic year he chose a 12 noon time slot. Again you would need to ask him why about the decision to do this, but I suspect it involved who was available to teach these classes.

We try to rotate required courses and popular course between day and evening offerings. So I would guess that these course would be offered in the evening during the 2006-2007 academic year.

If anyone wants to impact the times a course is offered I would recommend communicating with the Department Chair. While it is too late to make changes to Fall schedule, it may still be possible, though difficult, to make changes to the Spring schedule.
Title: Re: Anybody for shifting CS516 as an evening course for fall 2005?
Post by: Pradeep C Unde on 2005-08-23T17:42:30-05:00 (Tuesday)
I guess now it is my turn to say something!
First of all, I got so much frustrated that nobody cared to reply back that I stopped looking at the post after some time.
I knew that a lot of students did want evening courses. Also, I understand that the department might have scheduling problems. Is it possible to offer the core courses more than once a year? If at least one of that offerings is an evening course, people like me could have a chance to finish their degrees in some respectable time. Currently, if I lose a chance, there is no way that I could take a core course again in that year and I end up losing the whole year! I would really appreciate if the department could offer the core courses (at least) more than once a year. I know there are other departments like CMIS that offer a wide variety of evening courses. If there is a resource problem (as I hear), would it be possible to schedule a course in other department building?