Abstract

California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo has offered classes on the quarter system since its inception in 1946. In the Fall of 2021, the university was mandated to move to the semester system by Fall 2026. After researching the literature and interviewing universities that had made the same conversion in the past, it became apparent that no suggested methodology for making this conversion was available. This paper chronicles the conversion to semester effort to date and suggests a formalized methodology that other institutions can use if found in the same situation.

Some challenges are that initial information from university leadership can be sparse or overly restrictive; programs are dependent on each other for general education and support courses; the desired outcomes at various levels are different; and the curriculum conversion schedule seems like a long time to make a transition, but it is not. In reality, any creative thinking must be done very early in the process as the final years are filled with approval processes, new course descriptions, revised catalog and new articulation agreements with the community colleges. Many express concerns about the three-year transition period where students experience portions of their academic experience under both systems. Using the architectural engineering (ARCE) program as an example, this paper addresses all of these and suggests some helpful hints for navigating the process.

Disciplines

Architectural Engineering

Number of Pages

27

Publisher statement

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2023 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference.

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URL: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/aen_fac/163