Snow means no classes #sneachta

With the whole country shutting down and joking about bread for sale on Donedeal, it was inevitable that NCI would close too because of the bad weather. Many of our students travel long distances to College and it would have been unfair to expect them to attend lectures. Classes for Thursday and Friday are also cancelled. Interestingly, online classes are cancelled too.

Snowmen (snowpersons?) in Blackrock this morning.

The word "cancelled" is an interesting one. We are in week 6 of the 12 week semester, and cancelling one week's worth of classes will put a lot of pressure on lecturers to complete a 12-week curriculum in 11 weeks - or to be more accurate, 7 weeks of lectures in 6 weeks. I'd prefer if the word used was "postponed", but with hundreds of classes being cancelled over the next three days, it will be very difficult to reschedule everything college-wide.

I have two evening classes (Weds and Thurs) and I cannot afford to lose one class. If I cannot reschedule the classes, I have the option to cover the material on-line or in a recorded lecture. I could also make sure not to set any exam questions based on material due to be covered at the end of the module in case I don't get to it. Another alternative is to speed up, but much feedback from my students tells me that I go too fast already. I could also ensure that I stick to the curriculum and not get side-tracked as I often do. My classes always start on time, but I could shorten breaks and continue until last minute.

I hope all our students stay safe and warm, and that they wrap up well in front of the fire while studying!