One of the most tedious aspects of student life is having to complete assignments at the same time as online exams come along. When last-minute deadlines call on students to submit many drafts at once, it’s all but impossible to keep them focused on the one thing that matters most: an important exam. This overlap puts strain on the students, lowers the quality of their studies and leaves a lot of students feeling mentally exhausted. In online learning, the issue is even further accentuated as students should take responsibility for their own learning in place of the structured learning environment of the classroom.
Kember (2004) found that workload pressure and poor scheduling were two significant factors that cause academic stress among the University students, particularly in a flexible learning system. If too many things are calling your student’s name at the same time – assignments, quizzes, presentation and exams – it is difficult for them to prepare and perform. When this overlap occurs, it may be beneficial for students to understand why, to manage their workload more effectively, avoiding unnecessary stress. It also underscores the fact that academic institutions are structured to the detriment of students’ ability, with organisational timelines and deadlines.
Academic Calendars are often geared towards institutional efficiency
Assessment schedules are typically developed by universities according to schedules of the semesters, availability of faculty, and goals for the completion of the curriculum, not for the convenience of individuals.
During the crunch of busy academic weeks, some students start looking for help by asking their tutors to take up Do My Assignment For Me In UAE. Sometimes it’s not a matter of poor planning by students. Many departments have examinations and assignments set up independently, inadvertently resulting in clashes. Each of the several instructors has their own course and their own deadlines, leading to a probable concentration of deadlines in the middle of the semester or at the end of the semester.
This overlap can be even greater in condensed or online courses that have shorter courses and are compressed into short time spans.
Enhances the number of assessments
With digital learning, the way of evaluating the students has been transformed. Some online courses have a combination of weekly quizzes, discussion boards, projects, presentations and written assignments, in addition to the final exam.
In this stress, some students even look for a service such as Hire someone to take gre for me while taking care of their professional exams and attending their universities. This is an example of the ways that academic demands can converge and lead students to engage in unhealthy coping.
Continuous assessment models are commonly found in online learning systems in order to monitor students’ engagement. This is a great way to keep tabs on the progress, but it may also be a reason for students to have more deadlines to handle at once.
The end outcome is an academic setting where students are continuously trapped between studying for tests and putting up written work without taking time to recuperate.
The set deadlines for each Instructor are independent of each other.
An important factor in the overlapping deadlines is the fact that the teachers are not coordinated. Assessments are tailored by each professor to meet the objectives of his/her course and time frame.
To a teacher, it might look like one class for them. But students typically have more than one class and get a bunch of “manageable” assignments in a week.
This leaves students with time periods when they have to deal with multiple deadlines, in addition to studying for exams. Assessments will inevitably be scheduled to overlap in many programs because instructors may not be aware of other course schedules, and students may never achieve the desired outcome if they take the wrong courses.
Technology Provides Continuous Learning
Online learning systems are always on as opposed to conventional classrooms. Students are constantly alerted to their submissions, quizzes, announcements and upcoming tests.
This visibility at school constantly puts pressure on the students’ minds as they have very few opportunities to detach themselves from the study. Once done, another deadline has presented itself.
That means that students sometimes feel they are always “behind”, especially when it is a time of stress in school. Exam and assignment deadlines actually begin to overlap, as well as being a scheduling problem, and this can put a psychological strain on the student.
When competition is high, it puts pressure on Academic Environments.
In today’s academic environment, grades, performance measures and ongoing achievement are of paramount importance. Students who are seeking scholarships or are preparing to apply for graduate school, or those who are seeking competitive careers, are under great stress to achieve high scores on all assessments.
This then makes it emotionally overwhelming to have overlapping deadlines. Students don’t want to sacrifice their assignments or study for the exam, and try to do both at once.
This multitasking sometimes leads to reduced concentration and the introduction of anxiety, resulting in poorer overall performance than if they were working on one task at a time and focused.
Having no recovery time has negative consequences on learning
One facet of online education which is not touched upon is that there aren’t any recovery periods between assessments. In the past, students had a few minutes of free time in between tasks in the academic classroom, but online assessments are continuous and don’t leave much time between tasks.
Students will get tired minds faster when they don’t have time for recovery. Focus gets lost, becomes more difficult to work up the motivation to do homework, and basic schoolwork starts to feel like too much work.
Conclusion
This overlapping of assignments and online exams is mainly due to the institutional calendar, a continuous assessment system, and the quick pace of digital education. Although there may be some overlaps, it is important for students to understand what is driving the need for such overlaps so that they can respond to them more strategically than an emotional one. Students can make better use of their planning skills, time management and academic routines, ultimately leading to decreased stress and better academic management during challenging times.
