The Lack of Foresight in The Winter 2021 Semester Announcement

Written by Shea McInnis

Photo by Saint Mary’s University

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Saint Mary’s University (SMU) joined other Halifax-based universities in early June by announcing the transition to online classes for the Fall 2020. Since then, the format of the Winter 2021 semester has remained unclear. It is fair to assume the Winter term’s format will certainly be influenced by the effects of students returning to the region in the Fall. 

Introduced in early July, the Atlantic Bubble is an agreement between the four Atlantic provinces permitting travel amongst the provinces without the need to self-isolate for fourteen days. Despite this relatively uninhibited travel, the Atlantic Bubble continues to have low rates of COVID-19 infection and may be one of the safest places in the world with respect to the pandemic. This is in contrast to other Canadian provinces, which have recently been experiencing an increase in the rate of infection of the virus.

The low infection rate in the Atlantic Bubble may have affected decisions surrounding the Winter 2021 semester. In an email sent to students on September 21 2020, SMU announced a blended approach with “a mix of in-person and online offerings for the Winter 2021 Term.” Taken at surface level, this announcement is relieving for many, as online learning presents unique challenges that are not associated with in person learning. Even in the first few weeks of the Fall 2020 semester, issues have cropped up — including dramatic differences in time zones for synchronous classes and compatibility issues with required software for lab components. Despite the chance for the Winter 2021 semester to solve some of these issues, the announcement email raises as many concerns as it addresses. Despite announcing a blended approach, the email also states that “most undergraduate lectures will still be delivered online for first, second and third-year courses” and then promises on-campus experiences such as “small class discussion groups, experiential courses, labs, seminars and tutorials.” When taken together with the assurance that in-person classes are not mandatory, the question remains as to what form the administration at SMU expects the Winter 2021 semester to take.

The lack of clear messaging from the University about the format of the Winter 2021 semester may have been due to the desire to quickly announce their plans. At the time of writing, SMU is the only Halifax-based university to have shared their up to date plans for  Winter 2021. Dalhousie University announced their plans for a “mix of online and in-person instruction” in mid-August, however this announcement was shared over a month ago with no update (despite their goal to share their final updated plans by mid-September). Mount Saint Vincent University has also not announced plans for Winter 2021. Given that SMU has the reputation of following the precedent set by other universities in Halifax, they may have rushed to be the trailblazer on this front. This rush is further made evident by typos (since when are we going into the year 20201?) and missing links present in the email, which have yet to be amended. Even after finding the missing link to the University’s page on the Winter 2021 semester, no definitive information can be found. The lack of concrete answers might be in part related to the fact that several days after the first announcement was made, some SMU faculty were then asked to make plans for teaching in-person components of their classes. This has implications for the experience of the students in these in-person components, and for the safety of the students. Smaller classes at SMU, like those at the graduate level, will require different safety considerations when compared to introductory classes which can reach sizes of over 100 students. Overall, it appears that not much practical thought was put into the decision to announce their Winter 2021 plans. 

These lack of considerations may potentially indicate that SMU’s upper administration publicly announced their plan without giving faculty the time to thoughtfully plan out how to tackle the new semester. This may lead to poorly planned in-class components, especially as classes must remain accessible for online students. Some students could then be disproportionately affected, as poor planning or poor utilization of the in-person components may be felt more by students who would have to travel to Halifax.

Students from outside the Atlantic Bubble are now faced with a difficult choice: remain outside of the Atlantic Bubble (and not participate in the in-class components) or choose to enter the Atlantic Bubble and quarantine for fourteen days. This choice becomes more difficult when considering that information about in-person class components will only become available “in the coming months.” The amount of time remaining to make plans for travelling and to find accommodations decreases, and therefore the difficulty in making these plans increases, especially given Halifax’s phenomenally low vacancy rate. Students new to SMU may have anticipated moving their life to Halifax, which has been made more difficult by their move taking place in the winter as opposed to the summer.

Photo by Bonnie Kittle on Unsplash

Another difficulty with these plans is that the beginning of the Winter 2021 semester falls exactly fourteen days following the end of the Fall 2020 semester (December 22, 2020), meaning that students wishing to come into the Atlantic Bubble would have to enter the bubble potentially the day after their last exam of the Fall 2020 semester to finish their mandatory quarantine before the start of the Winter 2021 semester (January 6, 2021). This also asks that students spend their Winter break away from their families, potentially in a strange new city. Assuming that students from outside the Atlantic Bubble decide not to return to campus for the Winter 2021 semester, they opt in for what many perceive as a lower quality education (for the same cost). This difficult choice may also incentivize faculty to not utilize in-person components, and instead focus on developing high quality online offerings so that students are not forced to make this choice. If communication is not crystal clear on what in-class components may entail, students from outside of the Atlantic Bubble who chose to enter for the Winter 2021 semester may regret their choice if greeted with lackluster in-class components.

The plan for the Winter 2021 semester appears to be unclear and the announcement poses more questions than it does answers. While the current pandemic situation in the Atlantic Bubble is arguably one of the best on the planet, many SMU students are not from the Atlantic Bubble. Even if in-person instruction has inherent benefits when compared to online instruction, careful planning around the pandemic situation is required  to not alienate and confuse students. SMU did not appear to take this into consideration, and instead chose to send out an announcement which fails to clearly communicate and address concerns arising from the plan for the Winter 2021 semester. High quality education and maintaining student wellbeing should be the highest priority for an academic institution. With hasty and unclear communication about the Winter 2021 semester, SMU appears to have missed the mark on these fronts.