Mid-afternoon last Tuesday, the first day of classes for Queen students, fourth-year psychology student Simon Onorato suddenly received an email announcing that his developmental psycholinguistics seminar would be delivered remotely this semester.
“The [University] told us that the courses would be in person, “wrote Onorato in a statement to YGK News. “The [developmental psycholinguistics] The course was ‘undergraduate’, not ‘undergraduate online’, so I assumed it was going to be in person. “
According to Onorato, around 10 students are enrolled in the course.
“I am disappointed that the class has moved online,” he wrote. “Queen has announced a [school year], but it wasn’t true for various students … I wish Queen’s, specifically the [psychology] department, was more direct and clear with the information provided during the course registration. “
“As I am from Italy, I only stayed in Kingston because I thought all the courses would be in person. I [wish] that we were given an accurate representation of what [fall semester] would be like.”
Onorato is not the only student disappointed by the sudden change in online courses.
Michelle *, a fifth-year concurrent education major in global development, shared similar frustrations with YGK News.
Michelle was told by the University and academic advisors that the courses would be “fully face-to-face,” but over Labor Day weekend, three of her four face-to-face courses were moved online.
According to Michelle, two of the three courses, both taught by the global development department, were moved online during the semester, while the third, a con-ed requirement, will be re-evaluated at the end of September.
“None of my classes gave any reason to change our mode of instruction,” he said. YGK News. “Me [con-ed requisite] has about 70 students … I understand such a large class may need to be placed online, [but] when other courses of more than 100 students have in-person lectures on campus, this cannot be an adequate reason. “
Michelle’s two global development courses had 15 students in one and 80 in the other.
“I am frustrated and confused,” wrote Michelle. “I am not an online student and I was hopeful and excited for the in-person classes. Little or no time to prepare [for online learning] it was unnecessary. the [University] I had the whole summer to plan and the students had less than a weekend. “
“I want to know how these students who have most, if not all, of their courses placed online will be compensated,” he added. “We are not using the school facilities, [yet] Paying full tuition as if we were. We are stuck in leases and we have to pay rent when we could live at home for free. “
According to an email from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, some courses were moved online at the last minute because “the instructor [had] requested to teach subways remotely covered by Ontario’s human rights code. “
* Michelle is a pseudonym requested by the interviewee.
Reference-ygknews.ca