Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of students have returned to their respective homes. As a result, some students have had to adapt to a change in time zone. Since all classes are in Eastern Standard Time, some students may have to wake up at times that are inconvenient or impractical for them.
For example, if a student lives in California, all their classes would be in Pacific Standard Time from their perspective. If this student were to have a class at 8 a.m. at Stevens, then this class would take place at 5 a.m. in California. Many could imagine the difficulties this may bring to the student.
A member of the Student Government Association (SGA) from California commented, “I currently have a class that’s at 5 a.m. for me. It’s been pretty rough and the professor has not been too helpful. I reached out to him on multiple occasions and it seemed reasonable to my professor that I get up at 5 a.m.” This experience seems to be common for those in different time zones.
Freshman Conner Palandro from Texas (one hour time difference) also stated, “I end up feeling much more tired at the end of classes due to having to wake up an hour earlier […] As far as teachers helping out goes, a few professors have decided to move 5 p.m. assignments to midnight, which brings up another issue where I forget that it is due at 11 p.m. for me.”
Both of these students have experienced the brunt of the issue.
Professors are posting recordings of lectures and are affirming that students can see their lectures. The majority of Stevens students live on the East Coast, but professors seem to overlook those who live farther away. These students will not be able to ask their teachers questions in real time and their participation grade may be affected due to the possible lack of attendance. Furthermore, the change could truly affect someone’s overall grade in the class, due to the lack of interaction with the professor.
The member of the SGA further explained, “Thankfully, the provost has been establishing guidelines for professors, but a lot of those guidelines are more of suggestions.”
There seems to be a few problems here, and something certainly needs to be done. Neither professors nor students planned for this, but this is the situation we are all in. Through understanding each other’s point of view, we all must move forward and accommodate each other.
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