University College Dublin (UCD) is considering drastically changing timetables – including the possibility of Saturday lectures – and reducing the number of modules in the upcoming autumn term as a result of the coronavirus, the College Tribune has reported.
In a report, obtained by the Tribune, UCD said it is considering notable changes to timetabling for the upcoming term, including the extension of teaching to Saturdays and the revision of timetables to schedule hours outside of the usual workday of 9am to 6pm.
The report also said that UCD may reduce the number of modules on offer in order to reduce contact between students. In this instance, only classes with less than 50 students will take place on campus, with online learning materials and small group face-to-face teaching being implemented for modules with a larger number of students.
In order to facilitate contact tracing, the report proposes that students are placed into “pods” within their programmes, where students within the same pod would “share significant portions” of the timetable in an aim to minimise physical mixing between students.
The report also proposes that no exams will take place in the RDS for UCD students in the Autumn term. Continuous assessment and open-book exams will be used as extensively as possible and module offerings that require scheduling of assessments will be further reduced.
Classes for the majority of UCD students will begin on September 21st.
Yesterday, The University Times reported that students will likely return to College at the end of September, with first-term assessments taking place in January 2021.
College is also considering holding classes of up to 25 people on campus, with larger classes taking place online.
The current two-metre social distancing rule could also mean that only 20 per cent of students could be facilitated on campus for lectures next year.
Several Irish universities – including University College Dublin (UCD), Dublin City University (DCU) and the University of Limerick (UL) – have also announced partial suspensions of Erasmus and Study Abroad programmes. College has indicated that information regarding Trinity’s Erasmus and Study Abroad programmes will be communicated to students tomorrow
