Large lectures will remain online initially when students return to classes in September, Provost Linda Doyle has said.
In an Instagram Live Q and A with Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) President Leah Keogh, Doyle said that College was waiting for the government to issue guidelines on what kind of in-person activities will be allowed to take place in the coming academic year.
“We will still have, for the moment, big lectures online, but we’ve signed a pact with all of the universities and institutions in Ireland, about the safe return to on campus education, and it will be the case that everyone will have some in person experience”, the provost told Keogh.
Students will not have the option to dial into lectures remotely if they are taking place in person, Doyle added, but provisions will be made on a case-by-case basis for students who cannot attend physical classes.
Lecturers are being encouraged to record in-person lectures so “everyone can have access to it”, but it’s not the case that you can say: ‘Okay I want to do this one in person I want to do this one online’”, she said.
She also said that the planned orientation week for second years – who had their entire first year online – would serve as a second freshers’ week.
“We will be having two freshers’ weeks … I feel very sorry for people who started last year, who had no experience [of in-person activity]. So there’ll be a freshers’ week for the second years and for everyone else. As you know, loads of people go through anyway.”
Doyle said several times during the interview that College was waiting on government health guidelines to be issued before making decisions about next year. When Keogh asked when Front Gate would open again, the provost said that “that’s actually not straightforward at all”.
“And the reason that we can’t exactly specify that yet is not because we haven’t been working on it, but because we have to wait for the final government public health guidelines, and when they come, they will tell us what rules apply, and the kind of rules that we need to know about is when there be social distancing, if there is, how many metres, will there be a campus capacity limits, those kind of things.”
“At the moment, you can imagine this, planning for all of those options. And once we get the exact details from government, we will be able to spring into action, and then nail down the details”, she continued.
“I know it’s frustrating for people to keep hearing, ‘be patient’, and I say to all of that, there will be in person, with the exact details will be nailed down.”
Front Gate was open today for the first in-person graduation ceremony since the beginning of the pandemic.
Doyle also said that the library will be open next year, but “the challenge is what are the rules around access, and, again, those principles that we’re waiting for from government will determine whether you need to book, what kind of social distancing there will be”.
“I keep saying all of the time, fundamentally, it will be open, and it’ll be more and more open as rules, relax, and that’s the approach we want to take. It’s a very dynamic approach, that things change as life gets easier as more and more people get vaccinated.”
