Starting today, college students at William Carey University in Mississippi will be able to earn college credit for a class in just a one-week period. The classes start today and run until Friday, Jan. 9th. These accelerated “J-term” classes will be offered at the Biloxi and Hattiesburg campuses. The course options include World History to 1500, Adventure Based Counseling, History of the Bible, Basic EKG Interpretation for Nurses and others.

William Carey is a small, Christian college but could this incredibly accelerated idea for college courses catch fire at larger, public universities in the state and beyond?

At first, I was a little bit critical of this format for college courses. What person can possibly learn and absorb an entire semester’s worth of knowledge in just five days? Then I thought a little longer about the way that college students learn — and it often involves a lot of cramming at the end of the semester. Rather than drag out the knowledge that is needed, does it make more sense to just present it all upfront?

The courses that are being offered also lend themselves to an accelerated schedule. History and other reading-based courses can be presented in a shorter time frame, especially when there is no clinical observation or large projects attached to the course. Teacher education courses at the higher levels of the college experience could certainly not be taught this quickly, especially since so much of the learning takes place in observing over time. However, if more students were given opportunities to take some college courses on an abbreviated schedule, it would free up more time in the semester for the courses that needed the extra time and attention.

What are your thoughts?