Classes to Resume In-Person

By: Maria Garcia Manzano, AEIC, The Quill

Last week, Brandon University announced that students would go back to in-person classes after reading week. Meaning students could expect to return to in-person learning February 28th, 2022. However, last week many students who are in the science faculty received a message from their professors saying that in-person learning could return as quickly as the first week of February if they had less than 25 people in their class.

As a Bachelor of Science Student, I did receive notice from two of my professors that in-person learning would resume this upcoming week. As the university had originally planned prior to making their school wide announcement two weeks ago. The decision to go back to in-person was made by the Dean of science who believes that in-person learning can be safely resumed.

Both of my professors asked for the students' input as they knew that the short notice given would require many students to make quick living decisions. They asked if we were okay to move back in person as early as next week and said that if most of the class wanted to stay online, they would try to convince the dean of science that staying online until February 28th would be best. One of my professors managed to convince the dean and for that particular class I will return to in-person after the break. As for my other class, my professor is still discussing it with the dean, and we should be updated early this week.

This goes to show that student opinions do matter to professors and to the dean of science and I encourage you all to reach out to your professors and see what can be done about returning to in-person learning later in February, as both professors and deans are understanding of the fact that everyone needs more time to prepare their living, child-care, and transport situations during these unprecedented times.