Posts in the Major Requirements Category at Brandeis Summer School Blog

Tips to help you achieve success in an online class setting

June 29, 2021 / BrandeisGPS / Comments Off

Guest Contributor: 
Angela Rose Self, Brandeis University, Candidate for Bachelor of Arts, Anthropology, 2022

Brandeis made the switch in the Spring of 2020 to have classes be fully online, which continued into the 2020-2021 academic school year. I was worried at first about making the switch to online courses, as were many of my peers. However, I am happy to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed online courses and the flexibility they brought to my schedule. Instead of having to commute to classes everyday, I was able to spend the extra time studying and tackling my coursework. Also, I now had time to pursue my hobbies that I had little time for before. My professors adapted smoothly to the online format and made the classes engaging. As someone who is naturally quiet in class, the online format allowed me to participate more as I had time to collect my thoughts and express myself through the “chat” function in Zoom, instead of having to speak up in front of the entire class.

Here are my tips to help you achieve success in an online class setting:

Make a dedicated work space

Now that your home is also the classroom, it is important to make separate spaces for each. Not having separated spaces can make it difficult to transition out of work, especially during periods of rest. I would highly recommend that you dedicate an area of your home, be that a desk, room, or whatever else is available, solely to schoolwork. This can help create a better work-life balance.

Take screen breaks

Staring at a computer screen can be taxing and is something that both my professors and classmates experienced. To avoid the “Zoom burnout,” take breaks from screens between courses and schoolwork. This can include going on a walk, talking to your family, or anything else that gets you away from a screen. Additionally, I have found that this helps me to be more productive during the times that I am working.

Treat online class as you would the classroom

Learning from home, while it can be an amazing experience, does pose some challenges. For instance, there is easier access to distractions (like your phone!) that you normally would not have in the traditional classroom. To eliminate those distractions, I suggest putting them in a drawer or somewhere out of sight for the duration of the class. This can make it easier to focus on the material being discussed. Also, dressing as you would for a normal class can help to create that work-life balance I mentioned earlier. While it can be fun to attend class in your pajamas, long-term I found that getting dressed for class helped me to separate school from other aspects of my life.

Overall, as a student who has taken many courses over Zoom, I recommend to anyone hesitant about taking an online class to do it! Classes are much more flexible and the ability to learn from anywhere can be freeing.

If you are interested in taking an online course this summer, view the Brandeis Summer School website for more details!

Study Racial/Ethnic and Gender Inequalities in Health and Health Care this summer!

May 24, 2021 / BrandeisGPS / Comments Off

The environments where we live, learn, work, play, and pray shape our day-to-day lives and long-term health and wellbeing in complex ways. Dr. Anthony Iton, Senior Vice President for Healthy Communities at the California Endowment, famously said “tell me your zip code and I’ll tell you your life expectancy.”

The Racial/Ethnic and Gender Inequalities in Health and Health Care course lays a theoretical and empirical foundation for students interested in understanding how social factors (poverty, community context, work environments, etc.) affect the health and wellbeing of racial and ethnic minorities and other vulnerable populations in the United States. During this course, students will develop tools to analyze epidemiological patterns of health status by race/ethnicity, gender, and socio-economic status.

Taught by Jessica Santos, this class is designed to address current theories and critiques explaining disparities in health status, access, quality, conceptual models, frameworks, and interventions for eliminating inequalities. If you would like to learn more about how structural factors (racism, segregation, gender hierarchies, dominant cultural norms within health systems and organizations, and their intersections) contribute to health disparities, and how policies and practices inside and outside of the healthcare system are advancing health equity, then you don’t want to miss this course! Register here.

No prerequisites are required to take this course and all students are encouraged to enroll.

Course Details:

HSSP 114B: Racial/Ethnic and Gender Inequalities in Health and Health Care

With Jessica Santos, Ph.D. – view biography here.

Summer Session 1: June1 to July 2, 2021

Online: Mondays, Tuesday, and Thursdays

Time: 11:10am – 1:40pm

Sage Class Number: 2024

Brandeis Graduation Requirement Fulfilled: SS

Online courses are filling very quickly this summer so be sure to register soon!

Questions?

Email us at summerschool@brandeis.edu

A young happy college female student sitting on sofa at home, using laptop when studying.

20 new classes added for this summer!

May 18, 2021 / BrandeisGPS / Comments Off

Registration for the Brandeis University Summer School is open and we’ve added 20 new classes!

2021 Summer Session Dates

Session I – June 1 to July 2, 2021
Session II – July 5 to August 6, 2019
Extended Session O – June 1 to August 9, 2021

View our full academic calendar.

As many Brandeis students are still unable to travel, we also want to remind you that Summer School classes will be entirely online this summer. There will be two models of online instruction:

Session 1 (Tuesday, June 1 – Friday, July 2, 2021) and Session 2 (Tuesday, July 6 – Friday, August 6, 2021) will offer five-week courses via “remote learning,” through which students engage with instructors and classmates by utilizing Zoom for synchronous meetings, as well as LATTE.
Extended Session O (Tuesday, June 1 – Monday, August 9, 2021) will offer a number of 10-week “Zoom-based remote learning” classes and 10-week asynchronous online classes. Asynchronous classes use a common structured calendar of readings, assignments, and interactions with classmates.

Learn more about online classes and how they are conducted

How To Register

If you are a Brandeis student there is an additional step to enrolling in summer. Brandeis students must activate their student record in Sage before they can enroll. Visit the detailed, step-by-step instructions on how to register in Sage.

If you are a Visiting Student who normally attends another college or university, welcome! Visiting students can follow these instructions to create a new Brandeis student record and enroll.
Some courses have already filled to capacity and are running wait lists. So be sure to select your classes and register in Sage soon!

We hope you’ll join us for a class this summer!

We’re offering a variety of courses this year to help you fulfill degree requirements and explore new academic interests. Many students use summer to focus on challenging courses like Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, and Economics. Some students also use their summer term to work on a second or third major, or lighten their course load for a future semester when they will be studying abroad or working at an internship.

Whatever your reason is, the Brandeis Summer School offers you the chance to study and connect with our talented faculty and fellow students in small classes!

EXPLORE | EXPERIENCE | EXCEL

Remember to subscribe to our e-mail list to be notified of the latest class schedule updates and registration deadlines.

Become absorbed in James Joyce’s Ulysses this summer!

May 21, 2020 / BrandeisGPS / Comments Off

David R. Sherman, Associate Professor of English at Brandeis, will lead a course on Joyce’s Ulysses this summer.

Session I: June 1 to July 3, 2020

Days: M, T, W, Th

Time: 11:10am – 1:10pm

Credit Hours: 4 Credits

Brandeis Graduation Requirement Fulfilled: WI, HUM

This seminar is an opportunity to become absorbed in Joyce’s Ulysses as a member of an interpretive community. Published in 1922, this novel has impacted modern literature like no other. A novel at the edge of the genre of the novel, Ulysses is a highly experimental, weirdly delightful, and encyclopedic world-making project.

This class will explore the novel chapter by chapter, with parallel readings of Homer and other intertexts. This course will also consider the place of Ulysses in modernism: the explosive cultural project across the arts in the early 20th century that is still with us.

As a four-credit course, it is based on the expectation that students will work for at least three hours outside of class for every class contact hour (doing assigned readings, research, papers and projects, and so on). The learning goals for this course include:

developing the ability to closely read and re-read complex texts and to make nuanced
descriptions of their stylistic patterns, structural principles, rhetorical techniques and
other aspects of their aesthetic force and signifying effects;
developing skills with analytic and interpretive writing, through feedback and revision
researching and presenting information about scholarly debates around Ulysses
mapping Ulysses in relation to other modernist cultural movements;
designing creative or non-academic responses to Ulysses, in various media and genres

Our intensive, collaborative approach to Ulysses will serve different needs for each student, based on individual academic and creative commitments – view the full course syllabus here

Summer registration in Sage is open and some classes are already full – so be sure to enroll soon!

We are fully online this summer!

April 28, 2020 / BrandeisGPS / Comments Off

To ensure everyone’s health and safety, all Summer School sessions are now online for summer 2020.

Based on the expectation that social distancing will continue throughout the summer, the Brandeis Summer School will now offer all of the 5-week courses in Undergraduate Summer Session 1 and Session 2 via “remote learning.” As in past years, we will also offer a number (now greatly expanded) of 10-week asynchronous online classes.

What is the difference between 5-week Session 1 and Session 2 courses, and 10-week Session O?

Session 1 (June 1 – July 3, 2020) and Session 2 (July 6 – August 7, 2020) will offer five-week courses via “remote learning,” through which you’ll engage with instructors and classmates by utilizing Zoom for synchronous meetings, as well as LATTE.

Session O (June 1 – August 9, 2020) will also offer a number of 10-week asynchronous online classes. As in past years, Session O courses at Brandeis are generally presented asynchronously using a common structured calendar of readings, assignments, and interactions with classmates. You do not need to be online in front of your computer at set days and times each week. Instead, you’ll have shared course deadlines for completing the readings, watching and creating videos, submitting assignments, critiquing peer work, posting original and thoughtful contributions to online discussion forums, and replying to classmates.

What skills do I need to succeed in an online course?

Strong reading and writing skills: our courses rely on written material, recorded video, and podcasts. In addition to weekly readings, course content may include weekly online “lecture notes,” supplemental readings, articles, case studies, and discussions. You’ll participate in the course through regular, written assignments, discussion posts, and project work.

Effective time-management skills: using the syllabus, weekly checklists, and an online calendar and assignments tool, you’ll follow the course schedule and meet weekly assignment expectations. Expect to spend 18-22 hours per week in a 10-week course, and 36-44 hours per week in a 5-week course (including the live “remote learning” class meetings).

Comfort with the technology: you’ll learn to use online learning technology effectively. All online summer courses are based within the Brandeis LATTE system, the University’s online learning environment. Remote learning courses will utilize Zoom. Many courses will also use other online tools, like the creation of videos, sharing of files, development of Google Slides, Sheets, and Docs, as well as specialized programs developed for the subject matter.

What courses are being offered in the 10-week session online, and in the 5-week sessions?

Visit our course listings page. Then, to find the 10-week asynchronous online classes, use the “Choose which sessions to display” filter at the top of the page to select “Session 0” (Online) to view just the courses that will be offered 10-week asynchronous online. The 5-week “remote learning” courses will be listed as Session 1 or Session 2, along with the dates and times of the online class meetings.

Registration will open soon!

The schedule and offering of summer are subject to change, and with the announcement that all classes will be online, a few courses have changed sessions, dates, and times. So be sure to review the Summer School course offerings and check your Sage account to confirm that you don’t have any holds that could prevent you from registering.

Category: Major Requirements (page 1 of 7)