SAIT Announces Continued Online Learning, Limited Campus Access, While Students Report Isolation on Campus

Check-in on arrival: A sign depicting new restrictions and protocols in place for students entering and exiting buildings around SAIT is posted to a door in Calgary on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020. Since the beginning of the fall semester, SAIT has moved to primarily online course delivery with limited campus access for certain courses. (Photo by Matthew Siu/The Press)

SAIT has officially announced that courses will continue to be delivered online and in-person starting January 2021.

On Oct. 14, Dr. Brad Donaldson, Vice President, Academic for SAIT released a statement announcing plans to continue with blended online and in-person course delivery for the winter 2021 semester.

The announcement was met with mixed reactions from students, especially students currently living on campus.

“Part of me is upset that we’re still going online, but it makes complete sense to me as well,” said Jacob Zahn, a power engineering student at SAIT, “Online definitely isn’t the easiest way of learning for me.”

Zahn is also a Residence Advisor who both lives and works on campus.

According to Zahn, the SAIT residence is currently sitting at about half of the usual occupants as normal, with many of those being international students whose only option — after coming in from abroad —is to live on campus, or students who, for one reason or another need to get away from home.

“A lot of people like to have that separate place to learn,” said Zahn. “I know being at home for me would difficult.”

Despite this, SAIT has closed nearly all amenities on campus, as well as removing the Calgary Transit UPass, a transit pass for buses and light-rail transit for students, typically included in student fees.

This has left many students feeling stranded and even more isolated when their experience is coupled with existing social distancing measures.

Ghost Town: Power engineering student and SAIT residence advisor, Jacob Zahn, stands in front of the Aldred Centre at SAIT in Calgary on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020. Since the beginning of the fall semester, SAIT has moved to primarily online course delivery with limited campus access for certain courses. (Photo by Matthew Siu/The Press)

While losing the UPass has certainly affected on-campus students disproportionately, many students still need to commute to school for limited in-person labs and lessons.

Other students have tried to take online learning in stride, and some say that the quality of learning can vary from program to program.

“I would say that I’ve got a pretty normal spread of instructor quality this semester,” said Connor Goodfellow, a student at SAIT, “Some that are ok, some that are good, and some that just really suck.”

But, Goodfellow thinks that the transition to online delivery has exacerbated existing problems overall.

“Good classes are still good and bad classes have become a lot worse I would say,” said Goodfellow.

Goodfellow, who was active on-campus as the president of MakerSpace, a campus club, and had also held positions at the SAIT Students’ Association, says that campus clubs were also affected by the shutdowns, as clubs like his required physical facilities to operate.