Class hours to expand in fall

By Jennifer Baguss

bag0001@algonquincollege.com

March 12, 2009

Jennifer Baguss photo Kent Macdonald believes that longer school days will improve the quality of education at Algonquin

Students with commitments other than school are being forced to rethink their activities because they may have to stay in school a little later than previous years. Starting next semester, the college will be extending its school day to schedule classes as early as 8 a.m. to as late as 10 p.m.

For the past several months the college has been running a timetable simulation that would take into account new programs and an increased number of students and present the best possible timetables for each course next year.

“It is agreed that our number one priority is student success,” said Algonquin vice president of academics, Kent Macdonald.  He said the increase in hours was necessary due to a lack of space in the college for new students and programs.

“We have been looking at extending the day and have been exploring this idea for years,” he said.

Although the college is insisting the change is something necessary and obvious, some faculty and the SA were completely unaware of the changes until recently.

Faculty representative for the Board of Governors, Jean-Paul Lamarche said that he had no idea the college was considering extending the hours.

“It was a shock to the faculty,” he said. “The faculty and support staff are both against it.”

He believes the college has wronged students by not mentioning the change earlier. “Students need to be aware of this,” he said. “You might have a night job, then get your timetable, and realize you have class at night three times a week. How would you even pay tuition?”

“They want to empty classrooms and attract students,” he said,

But Kent MacDonald insists the change is for the benefit of the students. He said that out of 26,000 students that applied to Algonquin last year, only 9,000 were actually allowed to attend due to lack of space. He also said that next year the college will be adding another 100 classes to its activity roster, and that some classes would be scheduled in the evening.

Further, MacDonald said, “only 10 per cent of classes will be affected by this; it’s a small number.”

He also said that a number of classes will be offered more than once a day and that students with more than one section may have the opportunity to choose their time tables.

Deborah Rowan-Legg, vice president of student services said that the scheduling change would also help to remove lengthy gaps in timetables.

“Big gaps between classes is a poor quality time table,” she said. “The registrar’s office is going to be responsible for making sure timetables are good quality.” Rowan-Legg also said that due to the changes, the registrars office will make the commitment to get timetables to students at least a month before classes actually begin to help resolve scheduling conflicts as soon as possible.

President of the Students’ Association, Rob Nettleton said the SA would be doing everything possible to make the transition as smooth as possible.

Starting with a student forum on March 18, the SA will be addressing students’ concerns that can range anywhere from daycare challenges to security issues.

“We want to make sure service hours are extended, and make sure all concerns are addressed.” Nettleton said.  The forum will be held in Salon A at 12 p.m. on March 18.