Midterms are a very stressful time for college students. Between the normal hustle and bustle college life of balancing course work, internships, work, and extra-curricular activities, midterms apply that extra ounce of pressure that is just enough to really stress us out. However, the stress could be eased a bit if a student knows where they stand during midterms by having their grades available to them.
The easiest way to see where you stand in the class and having one place to reference your grades during the semester. That is why The Outlook staff would like to take the time to discuss why we feel it is important for professor’s to give students their grades and academic feedback.
Most students feel more stress around midterms if they are unsure where they stand in their classes. This could be easily fixed through more academic feedback from professors, whether it be promptly returning papers and assignments or giving a layout for students to figure out their grades. Whether grades be handed back on paper, or through emails, it is always helpful for students to measure their success in their studying techniques and to learn from their mistakes on exams or in papers if they are given feedback quickly.
If professors give feedback to their students they can have a better understanding of what their professors are looking for in their work. It is important to understand a professor’s grading style, so that students can improve their work to adjust for the class.
The give and take dynamic between professors and students is important for success in any course, and can only be fulfilled if students are able to see their grades and what they did right or wrong in order to improve their performance.
It also helps to get grades back in a quick manner before the withdrawal date creeps up, in order for students to decide if they will continue with the course or drop it without any harm to their GPA’s. If a student is left unsure where they stand in the class, they may be deceived into believing they are doing fine and stick with a class that will hurt them in the long run.
One of the easiest ways for professors and students to keep up with their grades is through the grade book on e-campus. The grade book is quick and functional with every assignment listed in a row for students to find. It keeps the assignments and grades organized and easily accessible for both professor and student. On eCampus students are able to see the scores they recieved on their assignments and can then compare those grades with what the assignments were worth. This helps us students out, especially when each professor has their own way of counting points and weighing different assignments in various ways.
Also eCampus can be an effective tool for any professor who does not hand back grades quickly, but has them written down. Students understand if a professor forgets to bring back the papers they have already graded, and that sometimes assignments accumulate before they return them.
Yet, if they posted assignments to eCampus as they grade them, then students would be able to still access their grades and assess where they stand, even if the professor forgets to hand it physically back to them.
However, we understand that not all professors like to use eCampus, and it is not always the most effective way for certain professors to keep their students up to date with their grades.
We also understand because students do not always like eCampus either. However seeing your grades in a timely fashion through any means necessary is fundamentally important for us, especially when it comes time for midterms. We would like the give a special thank you to all professors have given our grades to us on time.
