Serendipity35

They say you can't go home again, but, can you go back to college for just one day?

One Day University is banking on just that.Their claim is to give you award winning professors from top tier schools, and a live one day classroom learning experience.They are marketing this for "professionals, people in their prime, retirees, and even recent grads who feel nostalgic for when life was more about learning than job performance." Their web site asks, "Remember When It Was Fun to Learn?"

Yeah, looking back, college was pretty sweet. And this university has no entrance requirements or SATs, no readings or assignments, no exams.

Isn't this just continuing education in a new bottle? Not quite.

The classes are face to face and are taught by "the most sought-after professors at Harvard, Yale, Brown, Columbia, Penn, Princeton", although further investigation discovers that they are also taught by profs from those places we call public universities. There are no credits

I noticed that an upcoming session was nearby in Morristown, NJ at the College of St. Elizabeth in Morristown on April 14. The courses being offered: Astronomy: We Are Not Alone, Economics: Fear, Myth, Reality, and the Economics of Immigration, The Genius of Leonardo da Vinci (Artist, Engineer, and Natural Philosopher), Democracy, Big Business, and the Age of Globalization, History: Hitler. The Man and the Mystery. Each session is an hour and the day and lunch will cost you $219.

The idea is not a bad one. One day of college might be fun. There were plenty of courses I would have liked to take that I couldn't.

Has our attention span been reduced to the point where one day and one hour on astronomy will satisfy that cosmos urge that has gone unfulfilled in us? I think the answer might be a yes.

“Realistically, we know most people don’t have time to make a semester-long commitment—nor do they want to—and that’s why this concept works so well. Each city will feature a presentation every 8 to 12 weeks with a rotating line-up of outstanding professors. Students can attend as often as they like.”

Should your university offer its own one day semester? Wasn't there a course or professor you wouldn't mind revisiting for a day?

This seems like a good way to connect with alumni, particularly those who live in the area. I know that at NJIT and other schools graduate certificates (usually a four course sequence that can get you started in a degree later if you wish) and short-term training sessions are becoming more popular. Of course, "Emergency Management" is not as enticing to all of us as "Crossword Brunch with Will Shortz", the New York Times Crossword Puzzle Editor.

So, what they are really offering are guest lectures on interesting subjects by good teachers presented locally.

Maybe we should look into this, and think again about offering those things for free live and on podcasts.

No, that's what being a public university is all about. And though I believe there is a market for a One Day University, there are also plenty of good lecture series, public readings and seminars at your local universities - both public and private. Maybe colleges need to do a better job about getting the word out to the public.