Come the month of May, college students across the United States hunker down to finish up final projects and prepare for finals week. Since the Covid-19 hit the United States, college campuses turned to an online platform, changing the semester, including finals week.
There have been a variety of responses from both professors and students as they have headed into their new online finals week. Since this change, with the extra week of spring break that some colleges decided to have, professors have had to rearrange their classes to appropriately fit the needs of the students, which include their finals.
“I think my professors are struggling more than I am about transitioning to online. They’re having to change the structure of all their classes, all while doing their normal “duties.” For finals, I think it was a little difficult for them as they had to make their tests available on Canvas.” said Jenna Seibrings, a student at the University of Northern Colorado, “For me personally I love online classes and having my classes turn to online was not that stressful for me.”
Although the extra week has given some professors time to move solely onto platforms like Canvas, it has proven difficult for some professors who are not used to using technology to transition their class to these platforms.
“Well, two of my classes were online anyway, and those were two of my tests, so it didn’t really affect them,” said Hannah Branson, a University of Wyoming student. “But the other professor hasn’t really learned how to do online class yet, so that’s been a little difficult and feels rushed.”
However, some students have found that their professors and their finals not to be a disruption, especially those that were already online. Some classes that previously had finals in essay formats or mc have adjusted seamlessly to online learning and have made it more flexible for students during this time of Covid-19.
“Finals week was very easy, and that’s coming from a premed student. A class made the final optional saying that if we were happy with our grade, no need to take the final,” said Niketna Vivek, a University of Colorado student, A couple of other teachers made group exams. Some teachers of mine just kept the same review, format, and all; they didn’t make it harder, so with our resources, we were fine.”
“I think that it is less stressful than if I had to do it in person, but still has elements of stress that I don’t enjoy. That being said, I still don’t prefer it over in class finals. It’s a lot harder to get answers to questions I have and coordinate with groups in the existing format.” said Tanner C., a University of Wyoming student.
The new online format for colleges, especially for departments that rely on labs and in-person internships, have had to make adjustments for their finals. Masters programs like law have had to adjust their policies and final testing to fit with the platform.
“Some finals for law school ended up being more difficult because we lack a courtroom setting.” said Brittney Bulawa, a law student at the University of Wyoming, “For example, it felt uncomfortable trying to cross-examine someone via zoom or give a closing argument when in a courtroom. It just didn’t feel like we were fully practicing the skills as we would in real life, which made it difficult.”
“The last final I had was my master’s oral exam. This also would’ve been in front of the whole brass faculty, but instead was just a one-on-one Skype call with my professor. My professor ran it just like they would’ve if it had been in person.” said Sean McKay, a graduate of the University of Wyoming and masters student at the University of Cincinnati, “Overall, I felt less stressed for this finals week vs. previous finals weeks because there was more flexibility from each of my teachers for how to complete their classes and my degree.”
Some classes are also opting for an online proctored test with HonorLock to make up for in-person finals that would have been monitored by the professors and TAs. HonorLock requires students to have webcams on their computer/laptop as well as Google Chrome internet browser downloaded and ready.
“Before we take the test, we show HonorLock our face, our student ID, and our workspace so it can monitor us for cheating.” said McKay, “This was my first time using this extension. I felt it was very strange at first because it had access to change settings of the rest of my browser.”
“It’s fairly easy to work with, but it is finicky.” reflected Branson about using HonorLock for her Spanish class, “You can’t get up and leave the room to use the bathroom, and it doesn’t allow copy and pasting if you don’t know how to type accents, but otherwise it’s alright I guess.”
Overall, this finals week has and will be a change for everyone as they complete the 2020 spring semester out as the Covid-19 continues to influence people’s lives. With much luck, the University of Wyoming student base and other colleges across the country will return to their campuses this fall.
Finals week: Covid-19 version
