Short Term Courses

The exact work required depends on the discipline, the course, and the particular instructor. Unlike most European university courses, grades are generally determined by all of these kinds of work, not only the final examination.
Courses are made up of individual sessions, typically on a fixed weekly schedule.

There are various formats of courses at universities:

the lecture course, where the instructor gives lectures with minimal interaction; the seminar, where students prepare and present their original written work for discussion and critique; the colloquium or reading course, where the instructor assigns readings for each session which are then discussed by the members; the tutorial course, where one or a small number of students work on a topic and meet with the instructor weekly for discussion and guidance;
the Directed Individual Study course, where a student requests to create and title an area of study for themselves which is more concentrated and in-depth than a standard course. 
It is directed under a tenured faculty member and approved by a department chair or possibly the dean within that specific college;
the laboratory course, where most work takes place in a laboratory.
Many courses combine these formats. Lecture courses often include weekly discussion sections with smaller groups of students led by the principal instructor, another instructor, or teaching assistant. Laboratory courses often combine lectures, discussion sections, and laboratory sessions.

Students are expected to do various kinds of work for a course:

• Attending course sessions
• Reading and studying course readings assigned in the course syllabus
• Discussing the material they have read.
• Writing short and long papers based on assigned reading and library research
• Completing homework or problem sets
• Completing laboratory exercises
• Taking quizzes and examinations
• The exact work required depends on the discipline, the course, and the particular instructor. Unlike most European university courses, grades are generally determined by all of these kinds of work, not only the final examination