CSUN professors should be required to utilize the available online platform to maintain grades and publish any course work. Students should not have to calculate their own grades when the resources are there.

Students are required to turn in assignments with deadlines, so professors should also have those same deadlines when it comes to accurate grading and feedback. Academic professors should be mandated to post grades 72 hours after assignment completion.

Student success is unknown as we await our grades. We can try our best to calculate, but our grade may reflect otherwise and dropping a class by the drop date deadline may be the only option.

Drop dates are made so that students can drop a course without it affecting their GPA. Many times, course grades do not accurately reflect a student’s actual grade by the drop date; students have to make a difficult decision between taking a risk and continuing the class or dropping the class for the sake of their GPA.

Think about the amount of time that we have to submit assignments for multiple courses. Students are to meet deadline requirements and may not always get extensions unless an emergency situations occurs.

Since professors know what they are looking for when it comes to grading assignments, it should not take longer than 72 hours to grade some papers. If students are able to cram multiple assignments, quizzes and essays in a span of a week, then there shouldn’t be a problem to get reciprocation from professors.

School can be challenging for most, given the workload that we have to endure. According to an article called “The Science Behind Student Stress,” “a new study finds that when students experience an academic setback such as a bad grade, the amount of cortisol—the so-called stress hormone—in their bodies typically spikes.”

Academic professors should utilize online platforms to input grades. Currently, some courses utilize online platforms like Canvas or Blackboard. It is at their disposal, but not all professors use them. Courses that use Canvas give students a feeling of structure and success. We are able to see our progress and see the topics we are succeeding in. Professors who do not use Canvas are not helping students succeed and monitor their progress.

With the resources available, there are many ways academic professors could input grades within 72 hours of assignment due dates. Students deal with stress from multiple, simultaneous deadlines, and being unaware of grades shouldn’t put on additional stress.

Article written by Alondra Slack, 22-year-old communications major at CSUN.