McMaster goes online to help frosh amid COVID-19

New program connects incoming students to seniors in case campus stays closed

Talk to people about their time at university and they may talk about something they learned in class. More likely, however, the first story they’ll tell will be about a party, a club, an event, friends or some activity outside the classroom.

“Social connections are vitally important,” says McMaster associate vice-president of students and learning and dean of students Sean Van Koughnett. “Especially for first-year students.”

So what do you do if school can’t open in the fall due to COVID-19 and new students might be concerned they’re going to miss out on all that? You create a virtual social network online and hope to partially fill the void until they can arrive. Whenever that is.

This week, McMaster will roll out its online Archway program — no, the name isn’t a coincidence since the Edwards Arch is one of the

iconic spots on campus — which is designed to connect every one of the 6,000 or so new arrivals with senior students, professional staff and other first-year students. Mimicking, in a sense, a residence with its don.

In addition, virtual campus tours will be available online for those who haven’t been able to make a visit and online webinars will be provided.

“It doesn’t fully replace face to face,” Van Koughnett says. “Perhaps nothing does. But at least this will go some of the way to making them feel part of the McMaster community no matter where they’re studying from.”

If it sounds like a response to a worstcase scenario that’s a bit hyperbolic and unlikely to arrive, think again. The Toronto Star reported this week that universities and colleges across Ontario are preparing for the possibility of a fall semester taught entirely online with basically nobody on campus. That would clearly pose challenges for teaching, particularly for a school like Mac that has a medical school that requires hands-on instruction.

But it’ll also affect the social experience. A concern all universities are surely facing is the possibility that students who’ve been accepted will feel they’d be losing out if campus life isn’t available and defer to next year. He says surveys being done of potential students and their parents are showing a great deal of uncertainty about which way to go.

Van Koughnett says he doesn’t anticipate a flood of deferments but he is expecting more than usual.

This wouldn’t just be an issue now but could become a problem the following September if you now have part of two cohorts trying to find space in residences and in classrooms. The school has added rooms and classroom space in the past few years so it’s in a better position than it might’ve been to handle this. Still, depending on numbers, this could create pressure to accommodate everyone.

Since there are only so many spaces available in each program, this might also drive up the admission requirements for those still in high school and hoping to attend in the fall of 2021.

“We want to make sure if a student accepts their offer by June 1 that they’re going to want to enrol on September 1,” he says. “Because there could be things that happen in July and August that make them wonder if that’s still the right way to go.”

There’s also the issue of the 3,500 or so international students — roughly 1,000 in first year — who might not be able to attend right away. He says Mac is prepared to quarantine them but it’s another area of great uncertainty at this moment.

Van Koughnett says he hopes things return to some form of normal in a few months and all this prep work that began only weeks ago becomes irrelevant. But he says the school is as ready as it can be if that’s not the case.

“It feels like we’re doing five years worth of work in five months.”