Every freshman at Grand Canyon University must take either the dreaded 7-week online course or, if you’re in the honors college, “A Ripple In The Pond” otherwise known as University Success. This class is supposed to teach us the ins and outs of using LoudCloud and help prepare us for the next four years we will spend furthering our careers.
As someone who has gone through this class, finally reaching that 7-week mark and turning in my last assignment, I was so relieved. It seemed that this class was not doing much for me other than adding more stress and more work I had to do. As a freshman, I knew everyone else had to take this class as well so I took to the GCU class of 2020 page to see what other students thought and the response was almost unanimous.
Most students said that the class was a “waste of time” and they did not learn anything. One student said the only real thing she learned was how to “fake an essay in record breaking time.” Other students claimed it was just “busy work” and did nothing but add more to their busy lives. Another huge complaint from several students was that the worksheets were outdated and the GCU website has been updated so the questions did not match up with the website portion.
Other students, however, said the course was a GPA booster even with all the unnecessary work. A couple students said that the class was easy and if someone was unsure of their major; it would be a course for them. The class was beneficial to some but not all.
Some students commented on the fact that they are not used to taking online classes so it was more of a challenge for them. Personally, I have taken a couple online classes and it was not that bad. The hardest part was remembering to respond to people’s comments and the DQ’s.
Overall, there were more negative comments than positive ones. Most students thought the class was easy but a waste of time. A majority of students stated that they would never want to take it again. Personally, I think the class was alright but I do think it could be shortened. Maybe changing the curriculum and updating the worksheets would work out better. Also, changing some requirements to be able to respond to people any day of the week and to be able to get it done rather than having students respond every day for 4 days. That is exhausting and most of the time, no one is serious about what they are saying. Many students said half of their responses were all made up just so they can get the credit. Having a class to get us familiar with LoudCloud is nice but not with all the busy work and pointless assignments that go along with it.
After gathering information and talking with some other students, the answer seems clear: UNV-103 (University Success), was a failure.
P.S. Thank you to everyone who chatted with me and provided me with some great commentary to be featured in this article!
