By Daniela Cespedes
Staff Reporter
On March 17, Sacred Heart University announced via email that classes will be moved online indefinitely as a precaution against the spreading coronavirus.
Recently, the university has decided to continue with this decision and carry on with online classes for the remainder of the semester.
Students have differing opinions regarding the new educational adjustments.
“I wasn’t too happy about online classes; I do much better being in a classroom setting. It’s very hard to concentrate at home with so many distractions, including my cell phone and my pets, and my friends talking to me,” said freshmen Sarah Caramanica.
Other students also say that the adjustment to online classes has been difficult.
“I wasn’t really in love with all of my classes online. I feel that sometimes people can forget about their online classes since they aren’t in the traditional form. Also, I feel that it’s going to be harder to get help from teachers since it’s going to be online and can’t have a face to face conversation,” said junior Alex Watson.
While some students are not happy with the change, others liked the idea of online classes.
“I was initially excited about online classes. Although I feel I am not getting as much out of online classes as I would in an in-person lecture, it isn’t enough for me to be concerned about,” said freshmen Victoria Vaillancourt.
With this new change, professors have been asked to facilitate the transition for students by being understanding and flexible on assignments.
“My professors have been very helpful, and they understand our circumstances; they aren’t trying to make this transition more difficult for us. I feel like they understand this change and they are trying to work with us for the best solution,” said junior Amanda Iacono.
Some students say that there are certain courses they feel are hard to take online.
“I’m a bit worried about my math class because math is a very interactive course and it can be hard without a professor around, but they are all very active on their emails and have been very helpful,” said Vaillancourt.
In order to carry on with classes, some professors have started using video conference software like Webex and Zoom.
“My professors have been using Zoom for class meetings. I think it’s different and funny in a sense because nobody is used to this format, so it takes a little bit to adjust,” said Watson.
According to an email, in an effort to help students adjust and feel comfortable with online classes, the university offering to make current classes graded as pass/fail, which awards course credit to students with passing grades without affecting their GPAs. Normally this option is only available during registration, but students now have until April 20 to request pass/fail grades for their current courses. This can be done on the Sacred Heart website.
“I think the implementation of pass or fail is a great idea and a great opportunity. However, I don’t think I will be able to use it because of a necessity for letter grades in order to apply to medical school,” said freshmen, neuroscience major, Abby Andre.
Andre also says she is concerned about her courses and the need to succeed with her tough major.
“I’m currently taking seven classes. I definitely feel as though my workload has increased since we moved to online. My day is usually completely taken up by assignments I have to complete or by classes I have to attend at specific times,” said Andre.
