According to recent emails sent by the staff and administration at Valencia College, they have decided to remain in an online setting for the rest of the Spring 2020 semester due to the increase and severity of the COVID-19 virus. 

This shift has been detrimental to many students, and many of us feel as though this online setting does not sufficiently allow us to grasp a full understanding of the material. I am an ASL Interpreting major, and it is extremely difficult and complicated to take these classes online. 

Valencia college was one of the last colleges in the state of Florida to announce that they would close the campus for an additional week during the first outbreaks of the virus. Because Valencia is a state college and not a university, they are not required to follow the same laws as a universities, so despite many of the other universities in the state adopting this pass / fail grading system, Valencia has not made any mention of addressing this as a potential option for the remainder of the semester. 

Students were expected to go back home to continue classes through remote learning when the initial announcement to switch over to online classes was announced. 

Since the original notification of the virus was rather sudden, it did not provide a sufficient amount of time for professors to gather the proper materials to transition their classes to an online interactive format. This also means that many of the students do not have the proper academic accommodations that are normally provided through an in-person setting. This lack of accommodation means that many student’s education and academic performance may be in jeopardy. Valencia college students know and understand that the administration and faculty are taking our health into consideration with providing online instruction and thank them for putting our safety first. However, we believe that the next step for these difficult times would be to allow the option for pass/fail or a generous curve, as various universities such as UC Berkeley, FSU, Harvard, USF, UCF and Cornell have already shifted to compensate for the change.

The reasons to adjust to the pass/fail system are listed below:

-Time zone differences which can affect a student’s ability to attend class in which late night or early morning classes can be affected by the different time zones. The inconvenient timing of classes will affect academic performance. 

-If a student has family members that have become sick it will become difficult for them to focus on their studies since we should be prioritizing the health of loved one over our grades right now.

-Many businesses have closed down or are barely operating which has left students without a source of income as well as student workers who are currently not able to work. This has caused increased stress especially if that income was needed by themselves or their family.

-Many students do not have access to all the resources that the university would usually be able to provide such as internet access or a computer at home. Many of the courses that are taken in person are not easily translated into an online format, and while professors are using software such as ZOOM, acquiring technology such as web cameras and microphones to partake in class activities can be a difficult task for many students. 

-Online learning does not compare to in-person lectures that we would usually have on campus. Some students may be able to transition easily to online classes but the majority of students will have a difficult  time transitioning to online learning as well as being able to understand the course material or being able to focus on learning the necessary instruction to successfully pass their course. 

-Students who have never taken an online class will have a higher difficulty learning than compared to in person lectures. Additionally the classes offered are usually accompanied with a lab; online learning does not give us access to the resources that we have at the labs on campus. Therefore our ability to best learn and understand lab concepts is hindered.

-COVID-19 is having a negative effect on mental health and on the focus of the student body. With many students’ homes being located in some of the areas that are more negatively affected in the US. Other universities have already announced that they would change their grading policy to pass/fail due to COVID-19. UF, FSU, USF, UCF and many others are already transitioning, if not already converted to this new system. 

Disclaimer: To avoid confusion, the pass/fail petition isn’t asking for the entirety of the student body to switch to pass/fail. It’s asking for students to be given the option to choose if they, independently, would like their courses to be pass/fail. This petition is meant to bring the student body together and have everyone fight to help each other especially for those who are having a difficult time right now.