The transition to virtual classes and final exams left West Chester University with several unexpected surprises and some valuable lessons for the future, writes Susan Snyder for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

While some schools decided to use the honor system with their students for final exams, so many WCU professors requested electronically monitored exams that the university had to employ a second company to help.

The school also had to help some of its students with Internet access by providing Wi-Fi hotspots.

But despite all of these issues, the number of students who took and passed their final exams reached an all-time high, according to WCU deputy provost Jeffery Osgood. Additionally, course withdrawals were down.

Undergraduates also recorded a seven percent increase in A’s this semester, even though exams were as rigorous as ever.

Now, WCU is planning to make some changes based on these latest experiences.

“If we go back to doing business the way we did business before COVID, then we actually failed to learn anything from this,” said Osgood.

Read more about West Chester University in The Philadelphia Inquirer here.

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