Desteny Maragh – Reporter
With a challenge of balancing school in person and online, students are finding it stressful to prepare for online finals.
“The fact that all of my finals are online, makes it hard to keep up with what’s going on,” said Communiations major, Emma Jerram, sophomore.
Jerram feels the student to professor connection is lacking in her courses and is leading to her having a very challenging time.
“It’s hard to look back at all the work I’ve done virtually to really understand, like, what I need to know,” said Jerram.
One class that she said is hard to keep her focused on is Chemistry. Jerram said she thinks it would be “easier to pay attention in person.”
Jerram said it is especially hard to learn a subject you’re unfamiliar with online.
One student who feels online classes limited the college experience is Communications major, Kieron Turnbull, a senior.
“I feel like this semester, learning online, has made the ideal of college trivialized,” said Turnbull.
“I feel like I can do everything online myself, it’s like what have I learned, I feel like I’ve taught myself everything” said Turnbull.
“I’m in 300 level classes and there is no real relationship with my professors,” said Turnbull.
Online classes in Turnbull’s opinion lack connectivity.
“I am taking six classes and I am only looking forward to taking one final,” said Turnbull.
His reasoning for only being excited for one final, is because his professor in that class is the “only person I learned from,” said Turnbull.
“That is the only professor who has taken the time to always ask how were doing,” said Turnbull.
Turnbull said this professor starts every class with a “self-check-in” and he asks every student how they are feeling, and it helps bridge the gap of the student and professor online disconnect.
One student who is still figuring out how finals online will go is public health major, Ella Wilson, junior.
Wilson said she has been “surviving through the semester” this fall and is awaiting finals so she can relax during winter break.
“Online classes are harder than I thought,” said Wilson. “Keeping up with everything is stressful and harder when you don’t even know what your classmates look like.”
While comparing these finals to finals she has taken in the past, Wilson said, how would your professor know if you “really understand the class and what they teach or not if you can get the needed answers online without having to know it.”
Wilson said this semester particularly, she has felt somewhat “lost in classes,” but it wouldn’t seem that way academically because she is doing well grade-wise.
Wilson said she is not worried about passing her finals, but she is worried that the way online classes are going is not helpful to her overall learning process.
“I barely feel like I can retain the information in my online classes because the focus is not the same as if I were in a classroom,” said Wilson.
“My classes feel casual,” said Wilson.
One student who described online finals as “not the same” as in person finals is English major, Lupita Barajas, senior.
Barajas said she is “taking four classes currently” and she is doing “pretty well in the online classes,” but she does prefer her class that is in person because there is more “consistency.”
One reason she prefers the class that is on-ground is because she can get “a better sense of the other people in the class and do work with a professor nearby,” said Barajas.
Barajas feels that online finals are “independent” but wishes they could be more interactive.
