Is your school in-person and are they mandating vaccines?

[Whist]

With just under two weeks before class starts, UofA has decided to shift some classes online. 🥲

[goosie]

Reviving this for any announcements on the new year. Western has announced that our January term will start 1 day later (Jan 4 instead of Jan 3) and our classes will be online until Jan 31.

[myth000]

45 minutes ago, goosie said:

Reviving this for any announcements on the new year. Western has announced that our January term will start 1 day later (Jan 4 instead of Jan 3) and our classes will be online until Jan 31.

Manitoba is remote until Jan 31 as well.  And "All students, regardless of their situation, will have a pathway through their classes in Winter term 2022, with a minimum of asynchronous distance course readings provided and distance-delivery of evaluations as minimal possibilities in the event of an in-person return"

[Pecan Boy]

UofT is the exact same. Remote until at least January 31st.

[Bachtowork]

UVic shifted all exams online last week, they haven't made an announcement yet about whether or not next term will be online. 

[Whist]

Everything is still going forward as all in-person next term in Alberta, although I wouldn't be surprised if this changes with short notice. 

[JanLevinson]

Osgoode will be remote for the first three weeks at least but I wouldn’t be surprised if the entire Winter term is announced to be online. 
Zoom school here I come again….

[YerAWizardHarry]

Queens is remote till reading week (Feb 28th)

[99problems]

As of yesterday, Osgoode is supposed to be remote for the first 2.5 weeks.

I hope they do not change it. It is my final semester and I hate online classes. Also, they mandated vaccines and asked for proof weeks ago. Now that almost everyone is vaccinated is the best time to go back to the in-person method. There is always gonna be another variant of covid.

[GGrievous]

As an introvert I’m a big fan of the online classes, though it’s  probably best for my well-being when I’m forced to go play with the others. But the switching between online and in-person, and hybrid models just make things more stressful I think. I know it’s no easy task to coordinate and they’re doing their best but I’d prefer they committed to staying online for the rest of the year instead of just weeks at a time. 

Edited December 18, 2021 by Barry

[Kimura]

If the current caseload trajectories are as grim as predicted, I don't think we'll be seeing in person classes next semester.

[TobyFlenderson]

There comes a point where things might as well stay online because switching back so late doesn't make sense. Queens seems to be that point. I don't know anything about their exam schedule but I assume it's relatively similar to other schools, so they're planning on bringing everyone back for just March, one week of classes in April, and exams? I'm not sure that makes a lot of sense logistically, even if it's viable from a public health perspective.

[GGrievous]

I do acknowledge that I’m lucky and have a quiet and private study space and know not everyone has that. There’s no perfect solution. It’s all just terrible and a mess. 

Edited December 18, 2021 by Barry

[capitalttruth]

uOttawa is beginning classes remotely in the first week of January and has tentative plans to resume in-person learning on January 31st, if I recall correctly.

[Ryn]

I've moved all of the general pandemic discussion to the dedicated pandemic thread:

Let's keep this topic restricted to law schools specifically and OP's question.

[lawjunkie]

On 12/18/2021 at 3:45 PM, Barry said:

As an introvert I’m a big fan of the online classes, though it’s  probably best for my well-being when I’m forced to go play with the others. But the switching between online and in-person, and hybrid models just make things more stressful I think. I know it’s no easy task to coordinate and they’re doing their best but I’d prefer they committed to staying online for the rest of the year instead of just weeks at a time. 

very chill and happy to walk into law school for the first time during 3L LOL! 

[99problems]

1 hour ago, lawjunkie said:

very chill and happy to walk into law school for the first time during 3L LOL! 

I feel you. For what is worth, I'm glad I will not do my articling remotely—that'd be even worse than having online classes.

[734bird]

UVic hasn't said anything concrete about classes in January. The university is suggesting that it will be in person; and the BC public health officer (Dr Bonnie Henry) seems optimistic.

Our exams were switched online at about 6pm last Sunday, including the exams the next (Monday) morning... so 15 hours before. 1L's didn't have an exam until Tuesday morning, but some 2/3Ls did. This was due to an outbreak that climbed to approximately 150 (non-law) students, including 15 (so far, they are still doing the advanced genome sequencing) omicron cases. The outbreak came from the rugby tournament that affected many universities. While Dr Bonnie is optimistic, I am not, and expect UVIC law will be online (and tbh all universities). My policy through this pandemic has always been that I am not a doctor and will listen to those with a medical degree, but I would be very surprised if classes than can transition online (ie. don't need specialized equipment) weren't in January. I think this is going to get bad quicks

Edited December 20, 2021 by 734bird

[TheDevilIKnow]

On 12/20/2021 at 1:01 AM, 734bird said:

UVic hasn't said anything concrete about classes in January.

UVic upper years received an e-mail today stating that "at this point the university still plans to be offering in-person classes in the New Year". I'm not sure if 1L's would have received any such notification, as it was tucked into an e-mail about changes to upper-year course selection. However, and someone at odds with that message, the course-selection update included the notification that three courses had moved online, in some cases with a change in instructor. So, reading between the lines, the message seemed to be "Everything's good to come back in person, but by the way some instructors disagree and this will be reflected in the course offerings".

I wish I could switch into all the courses that are online, but unfortunately all 3 are full. I personally think that UVic is kidding itself that course delivery in person is safe. I acknowledge that the law school did not have any outbreaks in the fall, but to a certain extent I think that was luck - and the odds have changed drastically with omicron. There is not enough space to distance in classrooms, and even if there were, the congestion in the hallways and (especially) the lounge sort of negates that anyway. Ventilation is also poor to non-existent. While it's still possible that the omicron wave will come and go rapidly without too much damage, we don't know that yet. I don't see the harm in taking the strategy of putting the first three weeks online, like other schools have, and being optimistic for in-person return in February.

[Bachtowork]

2 hours ago, TheDevilIKnow said:

UVic upper years received an e-mail today stating that "at this point the university still plans to be offering in-person classes in the New Year". I'm not sure if 1L's would have received any such notification, as it was tucked into an e-mail about changes to upper-year course selection. However, and someone at odds with that message, the course-selection update included the notification that three courses had moved online, in some cases with a change in instructor. So, reading between the lines, the message seemed to be "Everything's good to come back in person, but by the way some instructors disagree and this will be reflected in the course offerings".

I wish I could switch into all the courses that are online, but unfortunately all 3 are full. I personally think that UVic is kidding itself that course delivery in person is safe. I acknowledge that the law school did not have any outbreaks in the fall, but to a certain extent I think that was luck - and the odds have changed drastically with omicron. There is not enough space to distance in classrooms, and even if there were, the congestion in the hallways and (especially) the lounge sort of negates that anyway. Ventilation is also poor to non-existent. While it's still possible that the omicron wave will come and go rapidly without too much damage, we don't know that yet. I don't see the harm in taking the strategy of putting the first three weeks online, like other schools have, and being optimistic for in-person return in February.

I can't believe they are still planning on going in person in January, I'm so disappointed 😥

[Whist]

On 12/17/2021 at 7:08 PM, Whist said:

Everything is still going forward as all in-person next term in Alberta, although I wouldn't be surprised if this changes with short notice. 

Lol nevermind, we just got notice we're online for the first three weeks of next term. 

[Bachtowork]

UVic announced yesterday that the majority of instruction will be online until January 24th, I'm assuming this includes law school classes. 

Someone posted this meme, which sums up the situation perfectly: 

 

[TheDevilIKnow]

8 hours ago, Bachtowork said:

UVic announced yesterday that the majority of instruction will be online until January 24th

And only 24 hours after the Law Faculty told us everything was full steam ahead in person, in line with directions from Public Health, which (amazingly) did support in-person return.

The unfortunate reality is that things are likely to get so very much worse in the next 2 weeks that all the announcements made by schools in December are going to seem like ancient history quite quickly. Of course, I sure hope I'm wrong.

[Bachtowork]

53 minutes ago, TheDevilIKnow said:

And only 24 hours after the Law Faculty told us everything was full steam ahead in person, in line with directions from Public Health, which (amazingly) did support in-person return.

The unfortunate reality is that things are likely to get so very much worse in the next 2 weeks that all the announcements made by schools in December are going to seem like ancient history quite quickly. Of course, I sure hope I'm wrong.

If they decide to push back the return to in-person classes, it will probably be once it's too late to get a full refund. I just wish I could know if the whole term will be fully online, then I could go home and not pay my expensive rent (my landlord is flexible with the lease) - as it is, no point going home when we may be in-person after the first couple of weeks. 

Edited December 24, 2021 by Bachtowork

[Mr. Deeds]

Osgoode following the January 24th ordeal. If we're not back in person soon i'm probably going to buy like $700 worth of video games and game myself to death.