By Khalia Lewter
As many know, one of William Peace’s academic perks is its 4 credit hour courses. As a matter of fact, the topic of academic credits is one of the first things mentioned on WPU’s group tours, and it catches many parents and student’s attention.
If unaware, The university first implemented the 4 credit hour system in the fall of 2023, last academic school year. This was done to improve the participation and Grade Point Average rate amongst students in the classrooms. How this first came about started with Charles Duncan, a professor here at WPU in the subjects Literature and Strategic Communications. However, at one point a couple years ago, he was the university’s vice president.
Duncan stated that he acquired the idea from another university institute, Elon University, and after doing some research he found that the university had a positive turn out from their 4 credit academic curriculum. From those extra hours students had better participation and they were receiving active dialogue and learning in their classes, which ultimately led to better grades at the end of their semesters.
With this new information, Mr. Duncan brought this research to the university’s board. From there, after much thought and consideration, it was finalized that it would also be the best for William Peace University. Some of the first classes to matriculate through in the fall of 2023 as 4 credit hour courses were biology, criminal justice, and political science. In the same year, Lynda Szymanski became the new vice president for academic affairs. After the first semester, faculty and the school noticed an increase in the grade point average, and a decrease in the DFW rate; the DFW rate is the amount of grades D’s and Failing grades earned, and the number of Withdrawals from classes.
“We had several faculty members tell us, I cannot believe how many students are doing better compared to before,” She said. “Students are learning more and have more time to master the material which is exciting.”
While faculty members became comfortable in this new curriculum, students also became more confident. Majority of students, according to professors, appreciated having fewer classes and more time to study. Instead of occurring 5-6 courses, it receded to 4-5; it’s also reported that during classroom sessions, that extra hour of immersive learning is used for dialogue and exploration, which students and professors both seem to appreciate.
Szymanski is confident that since the 4 credit hour system was successful in the first full year, in the future semesters and years to come the curriculum will continue to flourish amongst students. “The definition of immersive learning is actively applying knowledge, and that is so important; that’s what our faculty are doing and it’s a better way for our students to learn,” said Szymanski.
She’s hopeful grades will continue to improve, and DFW’s will continue to decrease, and even more, she hopes that students are able to retain and always remember the material that’s being taught to them through this method.