The Cluster
Central to the theory and practice of adult education is the ideal of the synthesis of knowledge. The School of Accelerated Degree Programs seeks to achieve this goal through the construct of the cluster. The trimester clusters are comprised of a faculty member and approximately 25 students who meet for eight hours on one Saturday per month and complete weekly online assignments. Each student is enrolled in a group of two related subject area courses, called a cluster, that are, in many cases, integrated into one seminar. Three semester hours of credit are awarded for successful completion of each course in the cluster for a total of six semester hours per cluster. The cluster provides students with an opportunity to explore basic subject areas beyond the confines of a single discipline.
These cluster group meetings provide a collegial environment in which students present their work and share their learning. A major objective of this format is the development of knowledge synthesis, so students can expect their learning to be measured in a variety of ways: written and oral presentation, class discussion, research papers, group projects, and traditional testing. However, as is true of most higher-education programs, each instructor determines how students are to be assessed and graded; therefore, tests and quizzes may be used to supplement papers and presentations as assessments of student mastery.
The clusters will begin with the online component in Canvas followed by the first Saturday eight-hour meeting at the end of the first week. There is a mandatory New Student Orientation meeting on the Friday before the first Saturday of each term to review the term and the structure of the program with new students so students will know what to expect from the beginning of their program of study. More information on assignments and meeting times will also be made available in the syllabus located in Canvas for easy accessibility by students. Since the online portion of the term begins before the face-to-face orientation, an online orientation is held on the evening of the first day of the term. The online orientation provides students with the necessary guidelines and directions they need to complete their first week’s online assignments before the face-to-face orientation.
Due to the accelerated nature of the program, it is expected that a student will spend, at a minimum, twenty hours per week working on weekly assignments, online discussions, quizzes, papers, and projects. This time commitment may vary, however, depending upon the student’s level of expertise in a given cluster. A student in a management cluster, for example, who has worked several years in a middle management position, and who has completed a variety of corporate sponsored management courses, may, in fact, spend less time working on assignments for this cluster.
Due to the accelerated nature of the cluster (program), the rewriting of papers or the assigning of extra credit homework to improve a grade, or grades, will be at the discretion of the instructor, but this practice is not encouraged.