OSWEGO -- Temperatures may have been lower than
normal for the recently completed Winter Session at SUNY Oswego, but
enrollments were higher than ever.
"Once again, we have a pretty robust Winter
Session," said coordinator Tom Ingram, the assistant director of
continuing education. "We've gone from four or five courses a few years
ago to 15 to 20 every year."
The overall enrollment of about 420 represents the
customer-focused nature of the session, Ingram explained. "The majority
of people taking these courses work full time and couldn't take them
otherwise," Ingram said.
Four online classes were "very, very popular,"
Ingram noted, including a non-credit course important to teaching
certification that attracted more than 70 participants, he added.
Among the 18 for-credit courses were popular
intensive weekend courses such as "Treatment of Conduct and Antisocial
Personality Disorders" taught by Gerry Porter or Mary Harrell's
"Bringing Imagination Back to the Curriculum." These courses, which
meet one Friday afternoon and two weekends, fit in well for those with
time limitations, Ingram said.
"I've developed this weekend format because most of
the students are really teachers, mental health practitioners and
social service workers, and this allows for minimal interruption of
their work schedules," Porter said. The most recent course, which
included anti-violence and violence-prevention training that anyone
certified in education must take, provides practical skills and
applications for professionals, he added.