Dear Professor(s),
As we are in our third semester of quarantined distance learning, I think it is time we as students spoke up. While online classes are nothing new, doing things over Zoom can be a lot harder than we originally thought; and by no means are we blaming this all on you. Quarantine was something no one expected to last a full year and in reality, we are all still in shock. So all I would like to ask is, can you cut us some slack? Projects are piling up, tests are coming soon and the ever-approaching finals week has us all in a tizzy. While it is a luxury for IUP to give us our non-class days considering other universities didn’t even get that, we are still getting large amounts of homework over days that should be breaks. When you spend the whole day getting things done, it wasn’t even a proper break. As an education major, I understand you have requirements for the course and also standards you need to uphold, but is there any chance we could get 2 readings instead of 5? Can replying to two other students’ discussion posts become a thing of the past? Can homework be all due at the same time?
I know as the years go by, classes get harder, but why does the workload have to take an entire evening for one class? As a slow reader, it could take me an hour to read one excerpt. When you pile that up with assignments for other classes, it feels like you’re drowning in work and can never get ahead.
On replying to other students’ discussion posts, the intent is there. Since we aren’t in a classroom, discussion posts are a good way to spark conversation in the online classroom, but when students are just trying to get work in by the deadline and not really learning anything, it ends up being “good idea!” Then when you dock points from students’ comments, they begin just reiterating the post for the points. We aren’t learning from replying.
Lastly, I know some of you have all homework due at the same time every week and I applaud you for that, but when you get professors who have random dates for things, it becomes easy to forget when to turn things in. Since being online you don’t always have that reminder at the end of class, dates can slip your mind, and then you have points docked.
I can’t imagine the stress that you guys are experiencing working in a new environment, but please understand that this stress is on us too. The pandemic has changed a lot for education and everyone is hoping for a return to normal. In the meantime, can we get some recognition for working our butts off to get degrees online? We are learning things all on our own and it can be very scary in the college setting.