At Covenant College, students have long been interested in how exactly the classes are run and how they are set up so that every student gets exactly what they need. David Darden, Associate Registrar in the Office of Records helped to give some clarity on 5 common questions students may have.
Who decides what classes are offered?
David Darden: The short answer is: The faculty. They are responsible for structuring the curriculum (e.g. requirements for majors) and creating the courses. But there are also systems the faculty have set up that determine when courses are offered. For example, they have to work together to make sure courses are offered that fulfill students' degree requirements....so student demand/needs also factor in. Some courses are on a rotation that determines when they are offered (e.g. BIO 111 every fall, BIO 112 every spring).
Does the level of interest for a class decide how many teachers/sections are there?
Darden: Level of interest is one factor. Level of interest plus level of need plus availability of instructors determine the number of sections. For example, there may be enough interest for 8 sections of CHOW, but the faculty may only offer 6 sections if most professors already have full teaching loads and many students can wait to take the class later.
How common is it for the Office of Records to wave the prerequisites and let people take a class?
Darden: Very, very uncommon for Records Office staff to independently waive a prerequisite without input from faculty. Under special circumstances, faculty may ask/instruct us to waive pre-reqs for individual students. It is common for a professor to waive a pre-req when he/she determines it appropriate for a particular student. In my experience our faculty do this with wisdom and care. They try to determine "what is in the best interest of the student in this situation? Does he/she have the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in the class he/she is requesting?"
When there are more people in the allotted seating and waitlist, do you add more seating or do you add another section? Or is that something professors control?
Darden: Sometimes more seating is added, sometimes another section is added. Both solutions are used sometimes. Sometimes neither option is feasible and students have to wait and take the course later. For some classes (e.g. upper-level major classes), the instructor has control. We try to make sure the course offerings provide every student with the opportunity to take a full slate of classes that help them stay on track with graduation. We also try to balance course enrollments in core sections when possible (we want to avoid having 40 students in one Doctrine section and only 8 in another section).
How common is it for you guys to add sections for classes after pre-registration?
Darden: Very unusual for a section to be added.
There is always someone behind everything that happens in this school and it is always nice to learn these things. It gives us insight into the way of life that we have at Covenant. Picking classes isn’t an easy task, but it is always nice to know that there are people who are doing the best they can in making it a smooth transition for us.