Fall 2020 Semester Recap

If you’ve been around for some time then you’d know at the end of each semester I like to sit down and share a little recap. Throughout this series, I share what classes I was enrolled in as well as which professor I had, the grade I received, and a bit more about each class. I also share a bit about my personal experiences and social life regarding the semester so you can get the full feel of what went down each semester.

For those of you who are new, or simply need a refresher, I am a Fashion Merchandising student at Kent State University. I’m also minoring in Fashion Media which focuses on social media, marketing, the magazine industry, and basically every one of my interests wrapped into one minor.

first day of sophomore year!

Alright, onto the classes since I know that’s the real reason why you’re here! I know every school handled this Covid semester a little differently; Kent kept most of its classes online with the exception of a few labs and upper-level courses. I, however, took a total of 16 credits this semester, all of them given online. You’ll notice I have fewer “random” courses this semester and it’s because I only had a few core credits left to fulfill—now that this semester is over, I will only be in fashion courses moving forward; woohoo!

If you want to check out my freshman year courseload and reviews: freshman fall 2019 recap // freshman spring 2020 recap 

FASHION FABRICS LECTURE (1)

Dr. LB
Rating: 10/10
Grade: A

I believe I mentioned this in my last post but all fashion students at Kent (Merchandising and Design) are required to take three lecture+lab courses. Fashion Visuals, Fashion Tech, and Fashion Fabrics. I took Visuals and Tech last year which means I was left with Fabrics to complete this semester. This course is designed to teach you everything there is to know about fabric— from how it’s constructed, to where the fibers come from, to what each fabric is used for.

The lecture portion of this course was super manageable. Dr. LB releases a pre-recorded lecture every Sunday evening. You have until 11 am on Tuesday to watch the lecture and take a mini 5-point quiz. I personally love courses that are set up this way because it allows you to take notes at your own pace. I can’t say learning about different weaves, yarns, and filament fibers was the most interesting thing in the world but this course had a very light workload and was very doable.

FASHION FABRICS LAB (2)

Professor Melissa Campbell
Rating: 8/10
Grade: A
Tuesdays/Thursdays 12:30-1:45

Fashion Fabrics Lab obviously pairs with the lecture and there are several different professors who teach this course. I had Professor Campbell and she had us meet virtually during our allotted class time twice a week to complete each lab. She gave very minimal instruction, only taking about 10 minutes at the beginning of each class to explain the lab, and then sent us to our breakout rooms where we were left with our three other lab mates to complete that week’s assignments.

I know many people who struggled with this team effort due to other lab mates keeping their camera off, not participating, etc. Thankfully, I had three awesome lab mates who were super helpful and very friendly. In each lab you are applying the knowledge you learned earlier that week during the pre-recorded lecture.

You are given dozens of fabric swatches to handle. Based on their luster, flexibility, drape, and other characteristics you and your lab group are supposed to make an educated guess as to which fabric the swatch is. This class is rather redundant and became tedious as the semester went on but it’s crucial to your fashion knowledge, especially if you’re a design major. There are three exams and a couple of projects; however, this class is far less stressful and in my opinion, the easiest of the three core fashion lecture+lab courses.

FASHION RETAIL INDUSTRY (3)

Professor William Hauck
Rating: 10/10
Grade: A

Fashion Retail Industry was definitely one of my favorite courses of the semester. Professor Hauck is incredibly organized and very timely with his grading. This class is solely based on the book which I rented for less than $40 through Amazon. Each week you are assigned a different chapter to read and are given a corresponding 10 question quiz. I loved taking notes in this class because the material really interested me; however, you can definitely get away without doing so. You will learn all about retail and the different floor plans, types of retailers, HR, and more.

You also have a web assignment each week that can be completed in about 30 minutes. For these assignments, you are typically asked to read a few different documents or analyze various websites that relate to what you’ve just read about in your textbook. You then answer a few different questions via a Discussion Board post and are expected to comment on a few of your peer’s responses.

Aside from the weekly quizzes and the web assignments, the only other grades are the two midterm exams and the final. I know some people get bored doing the same thing each week but I happen to love that—this class has the exact same structure week to week which made moving at my own pace super convenient.

SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIES (3)

Professor Stefanie Moore
Rating: 10/10
Grade: A

Social Media Strategies is hands down my favorite class I’ve ever taken. This course is offered as a full semester or a 10-week which is how I chose to take it. Basically, that means you’re completing an entire semester’s worth of work in a 10-week span—it’s a much quicker pace than your average class but because social media is a topic I have so much previous knowledge on, I never felt overwhelmed with the amount of work.

This course is given through the School of Journalism & Communications and is a requirement for my Fashion Media minor. Throughout this class, you look at several different social media platforms and their impact on society. While some apps like Facebook have changed their direction others like Tik Tok are just taking off, shifting where companies choose to spend their advertising dollars. Each week Professor Moore posts a prerecorded lecture—the blogging + influencer unit was by far my favorite.

In addition, you have a 10-point quiz each week. The assignments vary throughout this class: from Discussion Board posts related to articles to online branding plans to powerpoints explaining how different brands can expand their social media platforms through new strategies. Because this class was only 10 weeks it definitely moved faster however, the topics are so interesting that I looked forward to completing the work each week. Not only was this class crucial to my degree but it taught me skills that I can apply right away thanks to Styled by.

PRINCIPLES OF MICROECONOMICS (3)

Professor Thomas Sahajdack
Rating: 7/10
Grade: A-
Tuesdays/Thursdays 11:00-12:15

Let me start off by saying that my 7/10 rating is not for Professor Sahajdack but rather Microeconomics itself. I took this course in high school but did not get a high enough score on the AP exam for my credit to transfer over to Kent. Because Econ is a Fashion Merchandising requirement, there was no escaping this class. I’ll admit, this class was my biggest struggle this semester and I just barely got by with an A.

And as much as I hated learning about indifference curves and graphing total costs, I cannot say enough good things about the professor I had. We met virtually for this course twice a week during our allotted class time and Professor Sahajdack lectured as normal alongside his PowerPoint slides. He is an incredibly organized professor with immense knowledge of the topic. He is extremely responsive with emails and it’s very clear he cares about his students. He truly made this material as “fun” as possible.

Grading for this course was very straightforward: each week you have a 10-point quiz that relates to the material taught, there are 4 small assignments, three mid-term exams (he drops the lowest grade), and a final exam that is cumulative. He gives plenty of opportunities for extra-credit and you get a generous amount of bonus points added on to each exam score if you participate in class.

FRONTIERS IN ASTRONOMY LECTURE (3)

Professor Spyridon (Spiros) Margetis
Rating: 9/10
Grade: A

I needed 4 more credits to fulfill my core classes at Kent and they had to be a science. I was told by several sorority sisters that taking Astronomy online was the easiest class to take so naturally that’s what I signed up for. Let me start off by saying, science is not my strong suit and I knew I’d never survive Bio or Physics (let’s be real)—so this seemed like the safest option for my mental sanity and my GPA.

This course was so easy. Each week you discuss a new aspect of the solar system which I have to admit, I actually found semi-interesting. The weekly modules consist of a PowerPoint with notes, a 10-point quiz, a short virtual activity, and a short Discussion Board post. I didn’t take notes for this class, simply read through the slides, never spending more than 45 minutes to complete the weekly task list. I’d recommend this course to anyone who is looking to knock out their core credits quickly!

FRONTIERS IN ASTRONOMY LAB (1)