First-year medicine students will move to online teaching for two weeks for a “circuit break” to curb rising coronavirus cases among that year group.
Students were informed of the move in an email sent this afternoon.
Trinity’s Vice Provost Orla Sheils raised the possibility of individual schools moving temporarily online in an interview with The University Times last week.
“I think it’s clear at the moment that, as spikes occur or smaller outbreaks occur in different areas, some courses or some modules may have to flip and may have to go online for a short period but with the intention of coming back as quickly as possible”, she said.
As Trinity’s vice provost and chief academic officer, Sheils is responsible for academic and research policy, as well as strategic planning.
When asked about the possibility of a return to more online teaching, Sheils said: “I think we need to have it on our radar. That’s not a decision we would make as Trinity. That is a decision that government will and would make based on NPHET’s input. We cannot pretend numbers aren’t escalating.”
With high vaccine uptake among young people, face-to-face teaching has been maximised this semester. A full return to in-person classes in the second semester is still on the table, but Shiels says that “we need to be adaptable and responsive in Trinity to any direction that’s given to us”.
There were 582 people in hospital with coronavirus and over 100 patients in ICU last weekend.
“At the moment, we have opened as fully as we can”, said Sheils, adding: “We need to be sensible.”
Trinity lecturers have expressed concern about the lack of adequate ventilation in certain teaching spaces.
Speaking to The University Times earlier this month, John Walsh, the chair of Trinity’s branch of the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT), said: “There’s a very high level of anxiety among academic staff who’ve contacted us over rooms which haven’t been checked to confirm they’re adequately ventilated or rooms which have been checked but have no CO2 monitors.”
“Estates and Facilities are making efforts to remedy this”, he said, “but the College doesn’t have enough CO2 monitors”.
“We have got commitments that CO2 monitors will be rolled out to teaching spaces across College”, he said, “but it’s really problematic that we’re in that situation and we’re halfway into term”.
At the beginning of the academic year, Trinity faced backlash for its cautious re-opening plan, which was considerably slower than other Irish universities. While some courses returned almost entirely to in-person learning, others had timetables with few or no face-to-face lectures.
Over 200 students gathered outside the Dining Hall to protest the continuation of online classes.
At the demonstration organised by student campaign groups Students4Change and TCD F2F, various speakers claimed students had been misled and robbed of their college experience.
After reading week, one-metre social distancing was scrapped and the amount of in-person teaching increased across College. The change was welcomed by students.
