Dawson, Vanier colleges move most final exams online

Dawson College and Vanier College announced Friday that most of their final exams will take place remotely, as cases of COVID-19 remain at elevated levels in Quebec.

“In response to new guidelines from the Ministère de l'enseignement supérieur and the Direction régionale de la santé publique with respect to a period of voluntary confinement, as well as important logistical constraints, Dawson College will shift nearly all final examinations to online platforms,” Diane Gauvin, the college's academic dean, said in a memo to teachers.

All exams, except those with an essential in-person practical component, will be conducted online, the school wrote in a statement to the media.

Late Friday afternoon, Vanier College director general John Mcmahon announced on YouTube that the school's English Exit Exam scheduled for December has been cancelled and that most final exams in December can be done online. He added that exams for some technology programs will have to be done on campus.

Dawson was going to have in-person exams run up until Dec. 23, but some of those exams would have prevented students from isolating themselves before seeing family during the four-day period, from Dec. 24 to 27, when gatherings of up to 10 people are allowed.

Student union officials had also expressed their concern about the safety of such exams, contending that though the college was adhering to safety standards, employing distancing between students, staggering arrival times and offering surgical masks to examinees, there was no way to ensure students would be 100-per-cent protected.

“For the handful of examinations that must take place at Dawson,” Gauvin said, “we will ensure that everyone follows health and safety protocols.”

The college said “a number of measures” will be put in place to “preserve the academic integrity of final examinations taking place on online platforms.”