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Major Project 4 : The troubles college students are going through due to the pandemic

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Ayanna Cade

ENGL 1102

Major Project 4

acade7@student.gsu.edu

April 16th, 2022

 

Introduction

The pandemic has caused many issues for college students. Depression, anxiety, insomnia and online classes due to the pandemic has caused trouble for college students. College students must worry about their selves and their loved ones catching covid. The Topic for this research paper is how does college students’ depression, anxiety, insomnia and how has online classes due to the pandemic affect their academic performance?

 

The pandemic has caused depression, anxiety, insomnia, lack of motivation, etc. in college students. Covid 19 has added more reasons why college students are stressed.  According to Mindy M. Kibbey in her article “Anxiety, depression, and health anxiety in undergraduate students living in initial US outbreak hotspot during Covid-19 pandemic” college students have consistently elevated psychological distress because of the pandemic (Kibbey 1).  Kibbey started a study on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on mental health undergraduates in a heavily populated area in the United States (Kibbey 1). Kibbey addresses that half of the students reported that they had higher levels of health anxiety, general anxiety, and depression (Kibbey 1). Kibbey claims that “college students stress about unexpected displacing due to closing of university housing, losing jobs, no social networks, uncertain academic future, and online learning” which increases their depression and anxiety (Kibbey 1). This is immensely important because some college students live in university housing and have nowhere else to go. Those students that live in university housing unexpectedly had to leave without a warning which could be hard on many students. College is expensive and students lost their jobs which caused more stress on them.  

In the article “Assessing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Nontraditional Student’s Mental Health and Well – Being” Stephanie Babb stated that 30% of college students reported that their depression affected their personal lives and academic performance before the pandemic but, these rates have increased due to the pandemic (Babb 1). “71% of students indicated they had increased levels of stress, depressive thoughts, and anxiety due to the pandemic” (Babb 1). “35% of undergraduate students screened positive for major depressive disorder” (Babb 1). Babb adds that insomnia is an issue for college students that could lead to depression and affect their academic performance (Babb 1). Insomnia can negatively affect college students’ depression, academic performance and anxiety. “Insomnia is a common sleep disorder that can make it hard to fall asleep, hard to stay asleep, or cause you to wake up too early and not be able to get back to sleep”. According to Babb, 60% of college students have poor sleep quality and over 7% meet the criteria for insomnia (Babb 1). Babb believes that insomnia for college students leads to low GPAs and poor academic performance such as dropping classes (1).

 Many college students’ academic performance has been affected by depression, anxiety, and insomnia due to the pandemic.  Jose Ventura – Leon argues in his article “ Depression, Covid-19 Anxiety, Subjective well-being, and academic performance in University Students with Covid-19 Infected Relatives: A Network Analysis that the symptoms of anxiety and depression negatively affect college student’s academic performance.  Ventura states that many students’ concerns about their academic performance can also cause depression and anxiety in college students (Ventura 1). Students’ academic performance can be positively or negatively affected by remote teaching due to the pandemic (Ventura 1). Ventura acknowledges that University students’ academic performance could be affected by remote learning due to limitations in acquiring the necessary technology and/or having adequate digital connections (Ventura 1).

The pandemic caused in-person classes to transition to online classes. Online learning can certainly affect a student’s academic performance. This transition can be a huge adjustment for a lot of students. In the article “Higher education students experience and opinion about distance learning during the covid-19 pandemic “ Aleksandra Stevanoic emphasizes that there is a negative correlation between online classes during the pandemic (Stevanoic 1). Some of the negative things college students experienced during online learning are “academic stress, fear of failure, feelings of boredom, and depressive thoughts that distracted students from academic and creative activities” (Stevanoic 1). There are pros and cons to online learning. Some of the pros Stevanoic points out are better time management, better for students who cannot come to class due to health reasons, employment, etc,  and it’s easier for some students to attend class from a computer (Stevanoic 1). Some of the cons that Stevanoic pointed out are lack of motivation, increased anxiety, depressive thoughts, technical problems, etc (Stevanoic 1).

Melissa Ezarik added in her article “How Covid 19 Damaged Student Success “  a student voice survey that included 2,000 college students from 108 institutions which were conducted by Higher Ed and presented by Kaplan. According to Kaplan, 47% of students would rate the value of their education this year as fair or poor, 52% of students said they learned less this year, 23% of freshmen felt unprepared, 35% felt somewhat unprepared, and 47% of students said that cheating is common in online classes (Ezarik 1). Ezarik also points out that 46% of students felt like they are taking more time to complete online assignments (Ezarik 1). Donde Plowman, the chancellor of the University of Tennessee states “I heard repeatedly, I’ve had to work so much harder” from students (Ezarik 1). Ezarik implies that it’s easier to lose focus during online classes (Ezarik 1). Eight out of ten students found it difficult to concentrate during online classes but there are a few students who prefer online learning. According to Ezarik Student Watch research from the National Association of College Students found that students over the age of 35 were more satisfied with online learning (Ezarik 1). There are other worries that the pandemic added to college students. For example, Ezarik addresses that a student could not concentrate because her uncle had COVID-19. Two football players expressed the pressure they felt during the pandemic. They had worries of catching the virus and worries of having to meet academic requirements.

Students now worry more about their academic performance due to the pandemic. Students are now dealing with insomnia, longer assignments, depressive thoughts and worries about getting Covid 19. The pandemic made online classes a huge thing which caused more problems with students’ academic success. Students are learning less, unprepared and not concentrated. Students are feeling bored and having fears of failing. After doing this research there should be more programs to help college students get through this pandemic.

 

Works Cited

Babb, Stephanie J., et al. “Assessing the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Nontraditional Students’ Mental Health and Well-Being.” Adult Education Quarterly, vol. 72, no. 2, May 2022, pp. 140–57. EBSCOhost https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/07417136211027508

 

Stevanović, Aleksandra, et al. “Higher Education Students’ Experiences and Opinion about Distance Learning during the Covid‐19 Pandemic.” Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, vol. 37, no. 6, Dec. 2021, pp. 1682–93. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12613.

Mindy M. Kibbey. “Anxiety, Depression, and Health Anxiety in Undergraduate Students Living in Initial US Outbreak ‘Hotspot’ during Covid-19 Pandemic.” Taylor & Francis, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/16506073.2020.1853805.

Ventura-León, José, et al. “Depression, Covid-19 Anxiety, Subjective Well-Being, and Academic Performance in University Students with Covid-19-Infected Relatives: A Network Analysis.” Frontiers, Frontiers, 1 Jan. 1AD, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.837606/full

What Worked and What Didn’t for College Students Learning through COVID-19, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/06/21/what-worked-and-what-didn%E2%80%99t-college-students-learning-through-covid-19

The University of Houston MP3

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Ayanna Cade

ENGL 1102

March 3rd, 2022

acade7@student.gsu.edu

 

Summary 

The University of Houston is a public university in the city of  Houston, Texas.  According to the website, they want students who want to research, a career, students that are outgoing, and a diversity of students from all types of backgrounds. They use logos and imagine ideal readers from the small and large strategies to persuade their main argument to their readers.

 

Analysis 

The University of Houston uses logos to prove that they want students who want to research, be leaders, have a career, embrace diversity, and students that are outgoing. They display a lot of data, statistics, numbers, and facts to prove to the readers of their main argument. On their website, the numbers stand out, they are very bold and big. They make the numbers stand out so the reader can have an idea that this is the type of student that they want. On the submenu for research, the website emphasizes that the University of Houston is the 1,075 ranked facility, they have $145 million in new awards, $203 million in research expenditures, and a total of 70 total winners of NSF career awards (1). 

The way that the website proves that it wants a diversity of students through logos is by providing facts from articles and newsletters provided on the website.  According to the website, In the article “UH Among the best in the nation for success of Hispanic Students” from Hispanic Outlook on Education Magazine they state that The University of Houston has been ranked among the top 100 Hispanic – Serving Institutions in the nation (1). The website provides this fact about the school’s diversity to show logos. The website wants the reader to know this is one of the best schools for diversity. The website implied in the article about Hispanic students that “ In the fall of 2020, the University served more than 15,600 Hispanic students” (1). This means that the University of Houston accepted a lot of Hispanic students into their school. This is one of the first sentences the author states in the article. The website observes that the article says “In the fall of 2020 more than 3,000 degrees were earned and The University of Houston Hispanic students earned the majority of those degrees”(1).  The website claims that a lot of degrees in 2020 were awarded to Hispanic students at the University of Houston(1). The website reports facts and data in that sentence to show that Hispanic students can succeed and get degrees at their schools (1). 

The website uses imagining ideal readers to prove to the readers of their main argument.  According to the website, The University of Houston’s ideal reader is students who are outgoing and do not mind living Downton (1). The website emphasizes that the University of Houston delivers a lot of opportunities for students to make new friends, and get involved with the community and many clubs while living in the city (1).  They have many different organizations for their students. A few organizations that the website confirms are “ A Cappella UH “, “Active Minds”,  “African Student Union”, “ AIESEC “ and many more (1).  The website points out that The University of Houston’s ideal reader is also a student who wants to have a career. According to the website “ UH graduate students prepare for dynamic careers” (1). The website confirms that they have many programs of study like undergraduate, graduate, doctoral, online, and counting education (1). This college has many different majors, minors, and programs to provide its ideal reader with many options for careers. 

 

Response 

If the University of Houston came down to Georgia I would attend the school. According to the website, the school is very compassionate and caring towards its students. A University that genuinely cares about its students is a huge factor for me. I love that the school has many research programs being that I am a pre-nursing student. I feel as if I could use those research programs to the best of my ability. The University of Houston is in the city and I honestly think that the city is very beautiful. I never lived downtown but I honestly would not mind. Even though I love being close to home I’m starting to feel like it’s time for me to expand. The school is very compassionate and caring is one of the main reasons why I would go to this college but I am not an outgoing person and this is what this college is looking for. I am very shy so it is hard for me to make friends but going to this school could help me grow out of my shell. This college can help me grow personally. This college would be very new to me but it can help me grow socially and mentally. It can help me meet new amazing people that can make a positive change in my life and their research programs can help me out mentally.

The University of Houston. Retrieved March 9, 2022, from https://uh.edu/

 

 

Keith’s Academic Self

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3 years from now, Keith Kearney – Pelsey can see himself being a voice actor or a director. Keith went to Avondale, Medlock, and Laurel Ridge Elementary. After he attended Druid hills middle school and Druid hills high school. As soon as Keith graduated high school he went straight to college because he wanted to continue his craft and career.  Keith chose Georgia State University Perimeter College because he wanted to start off easy at perimeter college and get his associate’s degree in theatre. After he receives his associate’s degree he will be transferring to the Atlanta campus to receive his bachelor’s degree in theatre. He also wants to get all his knowledge in his hometown. Keith’s major is Theatre and his favorite subject is drama. He takes four classes this spring semester and a couple of them are American Government and English composition 1102. 

 

While interviewing Keith I learned that advisement is the thing about college that baffles him the most. Keith stated, “ I know that advisement helps you get the right classes for your major but they barely have any clue on what they are trying to do “. In his first semester of college, Keith was trying to register for intro to theatre but they gave him art society and culture instead. Keith stated, ” intro to theatre fits my major, not art society and culture”. Keiths three academic words were prepared, focused, and persistent. Keith’s influence on his academic self is one of his high school teachers named Ms.TO. Ms.TO gave him preparation for college and taught him how to become a better student. Keith stated, “ I owe her tons of gratitude for everything she’s done for me”.

 

Keith does not have a favorite video or article but he does have a small interest in the reading “ COVID -Era college: Are students satisfied?”.The reason why he likes it is because it’s very relatable to him trying to get his education during a pandemic. The article talks about the troubles that college students go through during the pandemic. Keith relates to the article given that he is a first-year college student during the pandemic.

 

After interviewing Keith I learned the three words that would describe his academic self are prepared, focused, and persistent. His high school teacher, Ms.TO had a huge influence on his academic self. Keith is extremely proud that when it comes down to his academic self he becomes a different person when it comes down to him learning something new or being more productive with the work he is given. All if not most college students go through a lot of struggles, especially first-year college students like Keith. Keith went through struggles with advisement and even the pandemic which is why he relates to the reading “ COVID – Era college: Are students satisfied ?“. In the future, Keith wants to be a voice actor or a director with a bachelor’s degree in theater. 

 

Citations 

Keith, Kearney – Pesley. Interview. Conducted by Ayanna Cade, 6 February 2022.

Ezarik, Melissa.” Covid – Era College: Are Students Satisfied ?”. March 24 , 2021,  https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/03/24/student-experiences-during-covid-and-campus-reopening-concerns?utm_source=pocket_mylist.