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Halfway through his Monday morning class at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College’s Green Bay campus last month, Patrick Parise instructed his Introduction to Ethics students to hold up their fingers: one if they’re confused about the lesson, 10 if they've mastered it. When met with a sea of “jazz hands,” he moves on to review the next chapter.

The students will take their final exam several days later, after absorbing major ethical theories and key philosophers’ views in just eight weeks — half the length of the traditional 16-week college course.

That’s because NWTC leaders have overhauled nearly every course in recent years, ac

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