AP-HUMA 1105 has been announced to be transitioning to In-Person for the Winter-term, I believe that due to a multitude of reasons, this course should continue Virtually as it has been since the start of the Fall-term. Reasons include but are not limited to:

-Students are already accustomed to the expectations created for the course, including quizzes, readings, virtual lectures, virtual tutorials, and so on.

-Students who are possibly unable to attend certain lectures are able to re-watch recorded lectures as well as stop and reverse in the recording wherever they require, rather than potentially missing crucial information

-The COVID-19 pandemic is still very prevalent and not all students are able to be vaccinated or update their vaccination records due to complications.

-Mandatory campus attendance incentivizes students to attend class even when they aren't feeling well. Unfortunately, some students will still choose to attend classes rather than potentially miss important information that has previously been available through recordings. While this has always been an issue, the importance of reducing community transmission is critical in the context of the pandemic, particularly at this time of year where we characteristically see an increase in communicable viruses.

-Some students may not even be in Canada to attend the in-person classes while others may be mobility impaired in other ways such as obstacles to obtaining childcare or having to take care of family members.

-Pressure is created to attend to all lectures and tutorials even when the weather conditions are dangerous and if parents advise their children to stay home, they will be penalized, creating an ultimatum of whether they should go to school and risk their safety, or stay home in safety and be penalized.

-This course specifically is broken down into two separate one-hour segments on different days, plus a third day for tutorial, which is a significant obstacle to students who do have barriers to accessing campus. Students that are able to access the course anywhere through the power of online lectures and meets have the equality of not having their learning impaired due to their individual difficulties during these trying times.

-If remaining fully online is not possible, one solution would be a Zoom call that runs concurrently with in-person lectures, which would allow students affected by illness or accessibility barriers to attend virtually while still fostering the ultimate goal of the eventual return to campus.

The students of York University only hope to remain safe during these difficult periods we are facing, and we believe that continuing virtually temporarily for the winter-term is the best way to do so.

Thank you