Sarah Watkins
Reporter
Students are about to begin finals for this semester, but they are already looking ahead to what spring semester might bring.
Advising for spring term has been happening for a few weeks, and, for some students, there is the realization that next semester will also feature mainly online courses.
Mississippi University for Women has announced that it is following the same precautions that were set at the beginning of fall semester, with many classes going online. For fall semester, 75 percent of the university’s courses were offered only online. This was something to which both faculty and students had to adjust.
While some students might like the idea of continuing school online, other students find it challenging to continue their education in this way.
Kaitlyn George, a freshman at Mississippi University for Women, has found online classes more complicated than in-person classes. George started at The W this semester as a Pre-Nursing major. During fall semester George only had two face-to-face courses. Coming into college, she was concerned about meeting new people and connecting with the professors.
“My in-person classes made it easier for me to meet new people,” said George. “I like the social setting of a classroom, but professors here are good at reaching out to their students.”
George said she found it more challenging to meet new people because the majority of classes were online. After making her schedule for next semester, she found that she will only have one in-person class. She said she wishes that she could take more face-to-face courses, as she is a social person and likes making connections in the classroom setting. For her, classes online have made certain things trickier to learn.
Though some students have found it more difficult to keep up with and excel in online courses, other students, such as Rikki Garcia, enjoy online courses because it has made them feel safe during the pandemic.
Garcia is a Biology major at The W. When she made her schedule for this fall semester, she decided she would take all her courses online. She has decided to do the same thing for the upcoming spring semester. Garcia mentioned she felt safer at home.
“I’ve been doing better with online courses than I did in face-to-face classes,” Garcia said.
Garcia mentioned that she already liked taking online classes, and that online courses have taught her better time management. Though she is doing well in this new environment, the main reason she is doing online only this semester and next is that her classes are only offered online.
Garcia feels that, though she likes her online classes next semester, she will miss the in-person experience of taking courses face-to-face.
In addition to offering many online-only courses, the university also announced that there would be no Spring Break, and spring semester will end early. Graduation is scheduled for April 24.