Return to in-person learning for UTM winter semester catches some students off guard
Posted November 4, 2021 4:26 pm.
Last Updated November 4, 2021 6:11 pm.
University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) students are calling on the post-secondary school to provide more options for the winter semester after learning the majority of classes would only be offered in-person.
In the first notice about the upcoming school year sent to students back in March 2021, the school said while they planned a gradual return to in-person classes and activities, they would “continue to leverage the innovations developed over the past year, such as high-quality online teaching and delivery of services to students and faculty members.”
Alex Aurica, a 4th year student at UTM, said up until recently, the school had taken a “wait-and-see approach.” It wasn’t till an Oct. 7 notice they were informed winter semester would be in-person for the majority of classes.
He said at that time, the course registration still had multiple courses labeled as online. But on November 1, the majority of them changed to in-person or indeterminate, with only a handful online.
The school said more than 80 per cent of courses at UTM will be held in-person for Winter 2022. Full-year courses that started online will remain that way through the winter semester.
“With a lot of course listed online for the winter, a lot of students who are out of city, out of province or even international had planned to basically stay online. They assumed if it did go in-person, it would be maybe 50 per cent, no more than 70 per cent,” said Aurica.
Aurica started a petition shortly after that has since been signed by over 2,000 students is calling for the post-secondary school to offer online courses.
The other concerns he hears from students range from, “I don’t have the money to physically come here to I already leased a place far from campus and I won’t be able to commute.”
“[Others may be afraid of] arriving in Mississauga, there being another set of lockdowns and not being able to return home and not really having the resources to stay safe. That’s what happened almost two years ago and they don’t want a repeat of that,” added Aruica
When Aurica reached out to the university with the petition to see if there would be any alternatives offered to people hoping to work online, they did not offer any.
“At this point, the university’s only option has been we simply have to wait and prepare to come back the following fall. That might be ok for certain students who are able to take an extra year or hold off a semester for various reasons.”
The UTM message sent to students in response to the petition said, “It’s time to return, safely, to UTM — a public university with a responsibility to provide in-person teaching.”
“We appreciate that the last 20 months have involved a tremendous amount of stress and change. Students’ ability to adapt to these challenges has been outstanding,” the message continued.
Aurica said from what he’s heard, a lot of students will end up just not attending the winter semester and deferring or even transferring, but that might not be an option for students in their last year of school.
“For those of us who aren’t able to [attend] and have various graduate school or work offers conditional on finishing, they might have those offers voided or they might not be able to start those positions.”
Aurica said some students are also still fearful of contracting COVID-19.
UTM, like many schools in Ontario, have a proof-of-vaccination policy in effect along with social distancing and masks required, but Aurica said, “A lot of people are still uncomfortable with full capacity in relatively small rooms.”
He blames UTM for having inconsistent messaging throughout the last six months about the winter semester. “The result of that is that students who have planned conservatively with remote learning are now in the position where they have to either give up the semester and potentially have that influencing their education and career after or make a last-minute decision to rush into residences and into in-school learning,” explained Aurica.
