This semester’s assessment period could involve some students having in-person exams in the RDS followed by online exams which they will likely have to sit elsewhere.
A memo was circulated at Trinity’s Continuation of Learning and Student Activities Group (COLSAG) this afternoon concerning the return to exam sessions in the RDS.
Two COLSAG members confirmed to The University Times that questions have been raised about students having to sit in-person and online exams in close succession.
Exam timetables are to be released on November 12th.
There was also concern over the storing of bags and coats in the RDS. In 2019, students hit out at the introduction of a cloakroom at the RDS, which left some students waiting for up to 40 minutes to drop off or retrieve bags and coats.
COLSAG heard that the cloakroom could be a coronavirus risk, but leaving bags in the Simmonscourt centre is a fire hazard.
There is also uncertainty regarding students who are unable to sit exams if they test positive for coronavirus.
Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) has said it will lobby Trinity for more “non-traditional forms of assessment”, after College announced that some exams are likely to return in the RDS this year.
In an email statement to The University Times in September, TCDSU Education Officer Bev Genockey said that the union “has, and will continue to, lobby for the introduction of more non-traditional forms of assessment such as take home and open book exams, and to retain the positives that have arisen from changes in assessment over the past 18 months or so”.
“We are hopeful that this recent communication from Trinity about assessment does not result in a full scale return to in-person exams, but rather that in-person or RDS-style exams will only be undertaken in instances where they make the most sense, or where other assessment forms are impractical”, she said.
Individual schools will decide whether to hold exams in person or online.
This newspaper reported earlier this year that the RDS would likely be used as an exam venue in December. In an email statement to The University Times at the time, Trinity Media Relations Officer Catherine O’Mahony said: “Assuming that government restrictions are not re-imposed at the time of the examination sessions, exams will be held this year in a variety of forms, including in-person.”
“Schools have been given the freedom to use in-person exams when these are either required for various reasons (e.g. professional accreditation requirements) or preferable for evaluating the fulfilment of the learning outcomes of a module for pedagogical or logistical reasons”, she said.
“It is anticipated that the RDS will be used to facilitate in-person exams to some extent.”
