Senioritis From the Student’s Perspective

Abstract

The Research to Practice Full Paper presented here describes senioritis from the student’s perspective. Senioritis is a known ailment that affects the best of students, often rendering them unproductive, depressed, and despondent. Nearly all have experienced this affliction to one extent or another, sometimes as it relates to academia and other times as it relates to particular situations or experiences in which one is involved.The instructor and grader of a required course, most often taken by senior students towards the end of their studies, noticed serious issues in students possibly experiencing this ailment and wondered what the group of students were reacting to. When asked, the students were vague, and not particularly engaged in providing an answer. The instructor asked if the students would be willing to provide a quick write up explaining what they were experiencing, and how they were reacting to it. The answer was affirmative, with the students expressing an interest in learning what other students were experiencing as well. Most students indicated that they felt they were the only one having motivation issues, as students, in general, do not talk about it. Although they did indicate some of their close friends had similar issues. The student’s experiences were formulated via an in-class reflective assignment, where students were asked to keep the response to one page or less and asked the following question below:“Tell me how senioritis affected you this semester. How did you approach things difrerently and how did you feel about school in general?”The results from this were not surprising, but significant in the reasons they cited for their issues. Students expressed gratitude for the opportunity to think about what was going on and this compelled them to work through some of the issues they encountered. The instructor and grader found that after this activity some of the students were able to work more effectively and responded more positively as their time in the classroom was coming to a close. This paper will present the results of this informal, in-class study examined using content analysis techniques intended to probe the reflective assignment responses for themes and issues students encounter at this time in their academic career. This work intends to impart information to faculty and graduate staff that will provide a clear up-to-date understanding of what students are experiencing in the classroom