Thompson Rivers University says most courses will be done online for fall semester with some exceptions for in-person learning (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

FUTURE LEARNING AT TRU

TRU planning for virtual learning, trades developing safeguards for some in-person classes

May 14, 2020 | 4:37 PM

KAMLOOPS — While other major universities across the province have established official policies for the fall semester, Thompson Rivers University has yet to set their plans in stone.

As it is now, the university is planning mainly for virtual learning and, where possible, hands-on learning.

The trades and technology department heavily relies on face-to-face, interactive instruction. Dean Baldev Pooni says classroom and workshop sizes will be reduced to accommodate in-person learning.

“Our academic areas would’ve fit 40 students into a class. Normally, we put 18 students into that size of space. We will be further reducing that to around eight or nine students in that same space, so that we have greater distance between the students,” said Pooni.

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In the workshops, welding students are already spaced out appropriately with separate work booths. The school will accommodate other trade spaces to promote safe working distance.

“There are other areas that are general open spaces, and what we’re doing is putting some acrylic-type of partitions between work spaces, so students are separated,” noted Pooni.

The trades department is welcoming back apprentices near the end of June.

Meantime, the TRU School of Nursing has students finishing off their lab work from the winter semester as a means of catching up. It’s being used as a test run for the fall.

“We will able to bring students back in small groups into the labs,” said Dean of Nursing Rani Srivastava. “We’re just working through the logistics around having people come in smaller groups, maintaining social distance, following the directives of frequent hand-washing, masks.”

All academic courses at TRU will happen online in the fall. English professor Tom Friedman worries about students, especially first-year, not being able to keep up without hands-on support.

“It’s going to mean, as instructors, we’re going to have to be more proactive in seeking out students to make sure they’re on track and that they’re not falling by the wayside,” said Friedman.

He says starting this week, TRU instructors have resources available to help them to adjust their teaching style from in-person to online.

“There’s going to be some very intensive workshops that we’re going to be doing by webinar on how to present lectures online, how to make sure that we can get our students to get the same kind of instruction that they would normally get in a face-to-face classroom,” he said.