Universities are going live with large lectures after online move
THREE Welsh universities have confirmed they are running some large, live lectures again.
Cardiff, Wrexham Glyndwr and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) universities said they are running the lectures safely in modern, well ventilated halls.
Universities have not held large, live lectures since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. Instead they have been moved online.
Students have complained about the lack of face to face teaching but universities said they must follow Welsh Government Covid guidelines.
Asked about plans, a UWTSD spokesman said: “The university has introduced in-person lectures across its campuses. The university’s Covid safety measures are in line with Welsh Government guidelines and sector guidance.
“The capacity for each lecture is determined by the size of the rooms and the nature of the activity.
“Generally our lecture rooms are configured to allow for two metre social distancing.
“Our small class sizes assists us in this aim and last year helped us to provide students with access to our specialist facilities including workshops, studios and laboratories.”
While some face-to-face teaching is taking place this term at other universities across Wales, large, live lectures remain online for most and other universities said they couldn’t say when live lectures might resume. This is what other universities are doing:
Swansea University “We are introducing a managed approach to learning and teaching for the start of the academic year.
“Large lectures will be delivered online, while sessions such as practicals, seminars and laboratory work will be taking place in person.”
Aberystwyth University “No lecture theatres will operate at full capacity; they will be restricted to capacities determined by our risk assessment process, and subject to a variety of mitigations which are identified.”
University of South Wales “All of our learning and teaching spaces, including classrooms, labs, and lecture theatres, are in use this term.
“We are following the principle of teaching in groups of 30 students, or where we have larger cohorts, they are taught in multiple groups of six, with two metres between each group of six, up to the capacity of the room.”
Cardiff Metropolitan University “Students will largely be taught face-to-face in non-socially distanced groups of up to 36 students, in interactive sessions designed to provide the most appropriate learning and teaching environments and practices to support our applied curriculum.
“There will be some exceptions to this – for example, in lab sessions where the use of PPE allows a greater number of students to come together safely.
“Over the last 16 months we have invested heavily in additional mechanical ventilation, with over £250,000 spent across both our Llandaff and Cyncoed campuses, with spending prioritised in laboratories, specialist teaching and social learning areas where opening windows may not be the most appropriate solution.”
Bangor University “Over the past months, huge efforts have been expended to assess and enhance ventilation arrangements in over 300 lecture and seminar rooms across the university, with ventilation arrangements improved where necessary or high efficiency air filtration units installed.
“In addition to these measures, to enable social distancing, at present our teaching rooms are used at reduced capacity (between 50-65% dependent on room structure), with over 82% of our lectures/seminars and practicals fully in-person.
“Whilst we hope to increase this figure, the ongoing influence of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the associated uncertainties, require us to take a dynamic approach to our teaching and learning delivery and these important logistics.”