When level-three restrictions took effect in Dublin last week, higher education institutions across the county scrambled to move online. A week seemed a paltry amount of time to adapt in comparison to the months of planning that had gone into developing a semester of blended learning – a task which now seemed futile.
If a week seemed like short notice, then try being told the Friday evening before term starts – that being the amount of time that higher education institutions outside of Dublin have now been given to move online.
On Friday, Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris said the decision had been made in order “to ensure safe continuation or beginning of the academic term”.
The move isn’t entirely surprising, and the reasoning is sound – what is baffling, however, is the amount of time it has taken the Department to reach this decision.
Last week, this Editorial Board asked if in-person teaching had, in fact, always been a pipe dream. Red flags had appeared at every turn – from the logistical challenges of timetables, to the cautionary tale of American universities. Colleges are unique in their set up: few other sectors involve quite so many variables with as much intermingling and crossovers as universities and colleges do.
Yet – despite all of this becoming clear last week – it took the Department another seven days to announce the extension of restrictions to all higher education institutions.
This last minute change-of-mind is a mammoth turnaround for universities and colleges who, with two days notice, have had to prepare to conduct all teaching online.
The Department has conceded that third-level institutions are liable to spark outbreaks of the coronavirus – an admission that will prevent the reopening of colleges and universities any time soon. Two days is not enough time to prepare for a style of teaching that may last longer than anyone has been willing to admit in these last-minute announcements.
No one is denying that circumstances are changeful in these times. But where education is concerned, last minute changes are not necessary nor productive.
At this stage, students have moved into accommodation – arguably, much of the damage the Department is trying to avoid has been done.
