By Omari Wyands
The students of Clark Atlanta University are mostly done with their first semester of the 2020-2021 school year.
With only a small amount of time in the first semester, students were faced with completing midterms after constant homework assignments and quizzes. Students at this institution had to complete these tasks in a pandemic, work jobs, had different time zones for assignments, and overall the mental toll of being in a pandemic while attending school.
Kirsten Francis, a Sophomore Biology Major, spoke on how she felt about midterms and if she felts prepared.
“I do feel prepared for all my midterms except one. I don’t feel prepared for organic chemistry just because I have been struggling, and it is not a class that should be taken online,” she said.
That shows how many science majors have a rough time and must do labs in their own homes.
“I feel like I’m teaching myself,” Francis said.
Many students feel the way she feels about teachers and that most students are teaching themselves through most of their courses, but the teachers were not prepared for this pandemic and online experience either.
“I really must be delicate with my response so as not to impugn the overall online experience. I find the answer depends on the class and the way instruction is done. I have four classes, and I find that upper-level courses with upper-level students tend to engage more in the learning process. That is not true for me in an introductory course I teach with frosh and sophomores,” Dr. Harold Jackson, a News Writing professor, and Georgia native, said.
“For the midterm, I found that for in-class exams, the scores are lower as compared to online. Test results from the same course, one online and the other in the class were vastly exaggerated.” He continued.
The professors of Clark Atlanta are doing their best to help the students get the information they need to succeed in their class, but people must note that they are in this pandemic and may have personal issues with everything going on.
General classes that are not hands-on seem to be more successful than most science classes such as Biology or Chemistry. A mass media arts major student might feel comfortable in a News Writing or English class being online, but a Chemistry major must get the materials for their lab and do it in the comfort of their home to get a good grade.
Coretta Canon, Miss Junior at Clark Atlanta, expressed how she felt about midterms this virtual semester.
“The semester was leading up to midterms has been challenging to keep up with. Having a full-time job and trying to attend/submit each assignment on time has been very difficult to juggle with,” she said. “I feel extremely unprepared for midterms. Virtual learning feels like I am just submitting assignments and not learning any criteria.”
Midterms without a break in the semester have been exhausting for the students, but the Clark Atlanta University family will “Find A Way or Make One” and get through these troubling times.
Comments