Spring Hill students are preparing for upcoming online final exams that will conclude this academic school year.
The usual anxieties and fears that come with tests are not only expected, but are normally anticipated by Spring Hill students. Students are used to the demanding curriculum and hours needs to achieve passing grades. With spring semester exams scheduled for May 1-6, students are met by new worries pertaining to virtual classrooms and online exams.
This is not the first time many of Spring Hill students have taken exams on the computer rather than the old-fashioned way with paper and pencil. However, this is the first time that students have had to participate solely through technology for a majority of a semester. Some students are adapting well, while others are having a hard time transitioning.
The finals needed to put an end to this demanding year to end are approaching with the month of May around the corner. Now that students do not have the excitement and rush of campus activities to distract them, exams grades should be above expectations. However, this may not be true for many students who are still not comfortable with the remote learning transition.
Spring Hill senior Maya Miller is an early education major at Spring Hill College. As a future educator, Miller has opinions on the new and enforced online learning. She quotes, “I am concerned about the online finals. My biggest issue is the format that will be used to take them. When I took summer classes at a community college we had to use a specific browser, but I couldn’t download it on my laptop, which made it hard to take my exams.”
Miller went on to say, “I’m also nervous about what to expect because it’s harder to study when you don’t have the benefit of traditional classes and office hours for extra help. I feel like we’ve lost the benefit of face to face classes, and I know I took them for granted but I do think that my professors have done their best given the circumstances. I feel prepared in some classes but not all of them. It’s hard to learn solely on PowerPoints and reading and I never thought I’d miss lectures and note taking. I’ll just be doing a lot of reading and emailing to classmates and professors for extra help.”
Other students who depend on in-class participation are learning to adjust to the new forms of learning as they eagerly await finals. Junior and Biology major Ruston Keller said, “The majority of our grades come from tests with labs being an exception. We now have to watch someone else do labs then we have to write reports on what they do with the numbers they recorded. The purpose of labs is to show us that the stuff we learn in a class is true. Also, we learn skills in-lab, which we need to work in professional labs in post grad jobs. We can’t learn these skills over a computer and it is hard to see everything in the same way. On the other hand, voice-over lectures make it easier to take notes and rewind.”
Nonetheless, exams are inevitable. In order for students to move on in their academic careers, as well as their intended post graduation careers, students must put whatever energy they have left from this semester into their studies. Students must be reminded that even during this stressful time, that powering through this, is what is going to keep them on track and focused on their goals.
As long as students continue to keep their drive, and work as hard at home as they would on campus, then they can surely secure good grades on their finals.