By Emma Wuthnow
Staff writer
Email: [email protected]
For most students, it is great to have a schedule. They get to plan most of the week with a schedule, from knowing when to be at class to knowing when they work.
For some, scheduling is essential to their success in school and life. For online students however, that might be changing. As of now, online and in–person classes have been on different schedules for 16-week classes. Starting in the fall, most in-person classes and online classes with have the same calendar.
The big difference before is in-person classes have breaks, such as Fall Break, Thanksgiving and Spring Break, while the 16-week online classes don’t have scheduled breaks.
Some students who are online wanted to share their thoughts about the changes.
Lacie Penner, a Hutchinson freshman, shares her thought on the changes, such as being unaware of said changes.
“I did not know that they were changing the calendar,” Penner said.
“I think the change to lineup with students at the college is going to make things easier and less confusing.”
Penner said the current calendar can make things confusing when students take both in-person and online classes.
“As someone who takes both online and in person classes, having different start dates and stuff is just makes it more difficult to remember what starts when,” Penner said. “Whereas if online classes started the same day in-person classes start, it will be easier because we will be able to just sit down and have this one start date and not start classes one week, and then one or two weeks later start more classes. Having the calendar changed to lineup with the in-person calendar will also make it easier to create a routine.”
To explain more about the changes, Executive Director of Enrollment Management, Brea Turner, explained when the changes will happen.
“The schedule will change in the fall semester.” Turner said. “Face-to-face and online classes will start on the same day.”
Turner then explained why the change to the schedule.
“With the implementation of a new student information system over the summer, it was recommended that we make this adjustment to improve consistency, simplify scheduling processes, and reduce administrative complexity,” Turner said.
Along with the when and why, Turner was asked what her thoughts were on how the change would benefit students.
“Aligning start dates across modalities will create a more streamlined experience for students, faculty, and staff in traditional terms.” Turner said. “It will help minimize confusion around deadlines, attendance tracking, financial aid reporting, and course adds/drops. This change also supports clearer communication and allows us to provide more coordinated student support services at the beginning of each term.”
