COLOMBIA – Some students at the University of South Carolina want the option of passing / failing grades for all autumn classes interrupted by the coronavirus, as the state’s largest college offered in the spring.
But USC administrators have no plans to change grades, as students take a combination of classroom and online classes this fall to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
More than 2,300 signatures were collected in a petition hours after it went online on Wednesday, requesting the choice that average student grades are not hurt by bad grades from important virtual classes.
MaryCarson Dowis and Emma-Grace Yarborough, two sophomores, helped start the petition because they are concerned about their grades in classes in which they must do well to continue in the nursing program.
The USC typically allows for passing and failing classes outside the student’s area of expertise, but it made an exception in the spring to include all courses after the campus closed and work went online in March in the midst of the outbreak. Students returned to campus in the fall for a mix of virtual and face-to-face classes.
But a number of virtual classes have been affected by technical flaws and some teachers are difficult to reach now that they have more students trying to talk to them remotely, Dowis and Yarborough said.
“Some of the lectures are just recorded and put online, and you really don’t have the opportunity to meet with your teacher and get complete conversations in the classroom and get the information you need to understand the material,” said Dowis.
Last spring, students had an idea of how face-to-face classes worked before courses went online, they said.
“This semester, we were completely online. It cost our mental health a lot by adjusting the way teachers work, how classes will be organized and the new workload that we have all this kind of stuff just thrown at us,” he said. Yarborough. “It is our responsibility to find out everything.”
Despite student protests, the USC is maintaining the traditional rating after finding no deviations in previous semester scores, spokesman Jeff Stensland said.
Nor did USC want to offer all-inclusive pass and fail because few other colleges are offering the option. The decision was made by a group of teachers, staff and students when the plans were drawn up for the fall semester.
USC offers grade forgiveness for up to two courses that allow students to repeat to improve their grades.
“In addition, everyone – including employers – will remember spring and autumn 2020 as unusual and will not weigh as much,” said Stensland.
But using grade forgiveness could add a year to students’ time in college for some courses, such as nursing, where good grades in mandatory classes are a necessity to earn a degree, Dowis said. USC administrators are failing to fully support students as they struggle with online classes, she said.
“I don’t understand the class material because we are not in person,” said Dowis. “So, I’m not getting that much education.”