At Stony Brook University, all classes went online after Thanksgiving. We were doing a hybrid semester this past fall, and while our COVID-19 cases were relatively low, this decision was made before we even opened back up for the fall semester. My guess is to lessen the chances of students bringing back covid from Thanksgiving dinners in different states. Now that our second COVID-19 spike is in full swing, I am grateful for this decision. Our already scant campus is even more bare, with most of the few students who were living in our residence halls leaving for the semester. This means all final exams are going to be administered entirely remotely.
I'm an undergraduate psychology major currently taking a majority of gen-ed courses. I can't speak for the entire student body when I describe my forthcoming experiences with remote finals. However, it seems most of my professors have deviated from the usual timed online BlackBoard exams. Campus traditions like a campus-wide midnight breakfast or an abundance of self-care events are nonexistent. Here's what this already unusual semester is serving up for finals week for myself and for some of my peers:
Lots of "final" everything.
Final papers, final presentations, final assignment... or just the last assignment on the syllabus that's being counted as the final exam. I personally am only taking one actual traditional final exam. Maybe professors want to mitigate cheating? Who knows. But my finals week is looking much like a typical finals week for my roommate, the English major.
School feels optional.
We had the entire week of Thanksgiving off. I must have went at least four or five days in a row without looking at a computer screen or logging into a Zoom meeting. It was such a beautiful feeling. So when classes started up again, I was just so... done. We weren't even learning anything new in any of my classes. The Zoom burnout is real.
There's no food on campus?
I guess Stony Brook assumed most folks left after Thanksgiving. Our already limited dining options are even more limited, with some eateries reducing their hours or just closing altogether. I do think some nuance is justified; with covid getting worse in New York, it would make sense to enforce a curfew in food establishments.
So. Much. Testing.
Anyone staying on campus from this point onward must be tested for coronavirus twice a week.
I'm well-rested and not pulling all nighters.
The best thing about having final assignments due instead of final exams is that I don't have to be up at ungodly hours studying. Gone is waking up at six in the morning to make it to my final in two hours. The earliest due date I have for an assignment is six in the evening.
