Our memories hate it when we cram large pieces of information in a short period of time and this hatred leads our brain to dump information it deems unnecessary. Now, imagine an entire semester of information squeezed into seven weeks, could you fathom how our brain deals with this?
Ateneo de Zamboanga University, with its RIGHT Learning, rolled out the Academic Year 2020-2021 online, dividing each semester into two sessions. Each session consisted of 3 to 4 subjects lasting for 7 weeks—examinations included. At the time it was proposed, it seemed bearable. Compared to the usual load of around 8 subjects, how hard can half of it be? Besides, the university had to adjust its operations by totally shifting the learning platform online. It was a reasonable decision.
But then the second semester came and all hell broke loose. True to form, it had been extra demanding in terms of subject difficulty. Get this: you were still trying to comprehend last week’s lecture yet another set of PDFs—that were definitely a lot more challenging—came rushing in. That was like getting smacked in the face but toned down by a bit. It was a question of passing or learning, and to achieve both was a feat.
A single session went by so fast that one had a tough time recalling on the 7th week what was supposed to be mastered from the fleeting 6 weeks. It wasn’t because there was nothing to learn, but it was because there was so much to learn in so little time.
The thing is, it wasn’t just students who were always on overdrive. Teachers—at least the ones who take their jobs seriously—had to juggle weekly assessments and weekly lecture preparation with little to no rest in between. In fact, some teachers have been torn between giving out course requirements that were essential for learning or lessening the load to somehow relieve the students’ burden.
Perceiving the situation at a distance, 7 weeks appear to be justifiable if the only goal was to graduate as soon as possible. But AdZU takes pride in its Jesuit education. It doesn’t regard learning as a joke, as it should; and fingers crossed, it continues to do so.
This is undeniably a new setup with catastrophic extents, and very few have managed to adjust just yet. The truth is, we cannot point fingers at anyone. No one’s at fault—well, except for COVID-19. But if the ones who have a say in the decision-making of these sorts of matters will turn a blind eye once the grievances have been communicated, that’s where it gets complicated. Skepticism aside, there’s always something to learn and improve on the missteps of the past. It is only imperative that we look back and dissect how the academic year went. With the released school calendar for A.Y. 2021-2022, a session will now span for 9 weeks instead of 7, with a semester still segmented into two sessions.
Will things be easier for us now? Not likely. School’s never been easy, especially during a pandemic. Will this improve both our learning and teaching experience? We can anticipate. Will our brain finally hold up? Let’s hope so.
