I've looked at the school's website to see if they had any statements about their methods and curriculums, but I haven't seen anything. I know there are generally mixed reviews out in the public, and I can definitely understand that lots of people have... Read More had varying (and some negative) experiences with SNHU--but for me, what I'm wondering is why people aren't as excited about all the things I love about SNHU. I feel like these things are what everyone should be talking about! I transferred to SNHU last fall after experiences with two universities and a community college in the last 3-4 years. I'm not very far into my program at SNHU yet, but I just wanted to say that there are some key things that I adore and want to praise in comparison to my previous college experiences: 1. Their innovative term system: 1 or 2 classes at a time with short, 8-week terms. I've found this simplified, decompressed method to be significantly more effective than the traditional semester system. It may seem that doing classes in half the time would double the work, but I've found all four of my classes so far to be extremely manageable, considerate, and humane. Instead of splitting yourself among 4-6 classes, barely scratching the surface of each one, you get a much more thorough learning experience being allowed to devote your time, energy, attention, and creativity into just a couple. I've asked myself daily at my past universities: how can professors at traditional universities rationally ask of their students the amount of work that they do? Between going to classes, doing daily assignments, trying to handle the financial, physical, and social pressures of life--and to top it off, the dreaded semester-long projects that loom over you for four months. In that constant state of of panic and chaos, I never found it possible to have a learning environment where I felt free to really learn instead of simply chug out requirements out of fear. I subscribe to the Montessori method, which asserts that learning happens when students pursue their natural curiosity and feel like they're exploring instead of obeying and surviving. In the traditional system, there is no time to explore, but at SNHU, you can extend your learning as far or as little as you have the time and interest to. You are free. 2. Inquiry and Project-Based Learning: To date, I've taken two completely inquiry-based (gen ed.) classes at SNHU: "Applied Social Sciences" and "Applied Natural Sciences". They are both of a Montessori education vein, in that you choose a topic in that field that you're passionate about, and then they guide you through researching that topic yourself instead of dictating info to you. Every step of the way, there are choices. Every step of the way, the courses are set up to relate every single thing to the real world, to you as an individual human being, and to your own interests and curiosities. And instead of ending with a terrifying exam full of information you'll forget the next day, they culminate in creative term projects that they've guided you through every step of the way. These extremely manageable, highly personalized term projects have been like paradise to me in comparison to the semester-long projects that have haunted me in the past. They've felt like such an authentic way to demonstrate the inquiry-based learning I've been engaged in throughout the term. And at the end, I feel like I actually accomplished something satisfying. 3. No lecture videos: In-person lectures have questionable learning value, since they rest on the assumption that the teacher has to fill the students' empty heads with information, and they take place in an environment of 30 silenced individuals with vastly different social skills, interests, and ideas--making the ideal "class discussion" where every voice can be heard and learned from nothing but a fantasy. For online classes, however, lectures take on a whole new level of ludicrous. From my own past experiences with online classes at traditional universities and mine and peers' experiences watching class recordings or live lectures over Zoom: lecture videos are actually the absolute worst. I'd rate them at about 5/100 in learning value, whether that's in STEM classes, the humanities, or otherwise. For digital natives like me, the online world is set up to give instant gratification to our brains. When we open our screens, our brains expect to be entertained, and we're so wired this way, we don't know how to live in any other. You can imagine how often we squirm during, skim through, speed up, ignore, and sometimes skip lecture videos. I've done it. I've seen it. I've heard of it everywhere. Because the fuzzy, muffled image of someone ranting about a subject we may or may not be interested in is the last thing our brains think it should pay attention to. (And heaven forbid it's a Zoom recording where the professor spends half the time begging people for input only to receive painful silence or half-baked statements from the same people in reply.) Put all that aside, my SNHU experience has not included a single lecture. It makes me want to get up and dance. It's like they actually notice us! It's like they've finally realized that lecture videos are a 100% waste of time for everyone involved. (I apologize to anyone reading this who may love lecture videos; I'm speaking in general terms.) For anyone wondering if online classes at SNHU will be excruciatingly boring because they'll have to watch lecture videos, think again. 4. Last but not least: interactive online textbooks. A notch or two below the dreaded lecture video, we have the boring textbooks. Granted, I love reading, and I often enjoy reading my textbooks. But that's not always the case. And I know a lot of other students who struggle a lot more, especially if there's not going to be an in-person discussion about it. Doing the readings for my online classes would be a much bigger struggle if they didn't have the interactive e-textbooks for a couple of the classes. Granted, I've used one print textbook so far, and an online text that wasn't interactive, but for my two more science-based classes, the interactive textbooks have been fantastic. They're so good at keeping you engaged and keeping it interesting. They vary the media with a mix of video and different kinds of texts and graphics. They have multiple choice questions that help you recall what you just read and even little games to help you organize your understanding. They're also so great at tying everything into outside, real-world sources, so that everything feels relevant and integrated to your general world view. And while you're reading the text, they're guiding you through your assignments and term project--all in one! I've been extremely engaged by the interactive online textbooks so far. So, those are top 4 for why I've been praising SNHU to all my friends and family since I started. I could also add that they've been really good at registering me for classes in advance with little to no effort on my part, and disbursing my FAFSA funds with again, little to no effort on my part. My academic advisor really cares about me personally, I feel like I can communicate with my professors whenever I need to, and they have so many extra resources--including free written feedback on papers, which I haven't used yet, but I'm planning to since I'm a Creative Writing major. Yes, I could also talk about little complaints. No organization or person is perfect, but overall, I've been bursting with my delight for this school and the newfound freedom I have since I transferred, so I had to share.
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