Monday’s massive dump of snow left post-secondary schools across Ontario cancelling in-person classes while keeping things going online.
Students woke up to a major winter storm that hit overnight and caused the closures of all schools in the province.
The storm causes up to 40-60 cm of snowfall that was starting to ease up late in the day.
Colleges and universities all posted about the closures on their Twitter sites and on their official websites.
This closure comes as post-secondary students voicing their frustrations with online learning.
Steven Joordens, a professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto Scarborough and Director of the Advanced Learning Technologies Lab, said it was a shame having to go online and not give students the in person lecture experience.
“Part of the whole experience of a lecture is that feeling of having somebody up in front, you know, speaking personally to you — kind of looking in your eyes and having that sort of interaction, which is how the best learning experiences are,” said Joordens.
He also said the weather cancellation did not feel very different after being online for two years.
“I didn’t really see the snow day as a huge thing because it’s almost like reliving a continual snow day of some sort,” he said.
Humber College released a statement about on-campus classes.
“Humber and U of G-H campuses, including the Child Development Centre and in-person Continuous Professional Learning, will be closed Mon., Jan. 17 due to the winter storm. Online learning and activities will continue as scheduled. Any updates will be shared on humber.ca and our social channels.”
Daniel Bear, a Humber College professor in the Criminal Justice department suggested on Twitter that snow days should be when you have a day off and have fun.
“We’ve lost something special now that snow days just mean ‘go online’ and not ‘no school, special extra day off’ days. Thanks COVID.” he tweeted.
Bear said the reason why he sent out that tweet was for the students who are missing out in enjoying a day off.
“There was this idea at least this imagination that it was like it was a free day, like Mother Nature has decided to get the day off, said Bear.
“Of course, it created havoc for parents and businesses and all that. But there was something special these two weeks in the like public, imagination of what a snow day meant.”
Milos Vasic, a professor in the Sociology department and acting president for the Humber Faculty Union, said that is was a no brainer to close schools.
“All of the programming is online, all of the education deliveries online this week. So I’m sure it was a no brainer for them, he said.
Humber in the past has sometimes kept its campuses open despite bad weather, he said.
” In terms of closing campus, in snow conditions in the past, just before the pandemic, there was a really, there was a tendency to keep the campus open in the morning and close at 1 p.m. or 2 p.m. or something like that, then shut everything down.” Vasic said.
George Brown also released a Twitter statement about closures.
“Due to heavy snowfall, George Brown College campuses are closed Monday, January 17. All in-person clinics, shops, labs, and ECE placements are cancelled today and child care centres are closed. Online classes will run as scheduled.”
Ryerson said that “all in-person classes, labs or exams are cancelled on January 17, 2022. of 12 p.m.
Other colleges and universities that were closed included the University of Toronto, Seneca College and York University.