COVID-19 — Information for Students

2020-21 Academic Year (Fall 2020 to April 2021)

All classes will be delivered remotely.

Co-ops, Practicums and Internships

Will co-op placements, internships and other work-integrated-learning opportunities be affected by the pandemic?

Work-integrated-learning opportunities have indeed been and will likely continue to be affected. Please see below for more information specific to Co-op,  Practicums, and Internships.

In response to changes in restrictions at provincial, national, and municipal levels, the Faculty has implemented a process for approving in-person placement activities. Please contact the Careers Office if you have any questions: careers.ischool@utoronto.ca

The Careers office is also working hard to identify opportunities that allow employers to host students remotely and many students are already participating fully while working from home. Unfortunately, however, there are some work integrated learning opportunities have been cancelled or postponed as a result of the pandemic. In response, the university has created more opportunities for co-op students, many of whom are working on pandemic-related initiatives.

INF3902/3H Cooperative Education Placement II/I

In light of the pandemic, the co-op criteria has been altered to allow for greater flexibility for students and employers alike.  There are 2 significant changes:

1. The Faculty is allowing remote-only placements to count towards a co-op placement.  Some employers have onboarded students remotely and may continue in that format, if needed. 
2. The minimum placement duration has been reduced from 12 weeks (360 hours) to 8 weeks (280 hours).  

INF2173 Information Professional Practicum

The Practicum course will move forward accepting virtual placement opportunities only.

Students will complete 105 hours towards their chosen project virtually.

Though there are multiple and continuous recruitment efforts underway, placements are not guaranteed in light of the pandemic.

MSL3000H MMSt Internships

After much consultation with both external and internal stakeholders, the Program has developed two contingency plans to support the Internships:

• Fall 2020/Winter 2021
  • Students who may be unable to continue with a Summer Internship are encouraged to contact the Careers Officer as the Museum Studies program will offer a modified internship option during the Fall 2020 and Winter 2021 terms, where students will be eligible to complete paid or unpaid positions for a minimum of 280 hours, over the course of two terms.

International Activities

Updated Jan 31, 2021: The University of Toronto has extended the cancellation of future University activity to international locations for all students until August 31, 2021. If you’re able to postpone or shift your travel to a later date or undertake your activity remotely and without travelling internationally, please arrange to do so. If you’re unable to change your plans, please note that, regrettably, your activity is cancelled.  We know that your academic pursuits are important to you and the University is committed to maintaining academic continuity. Your academic unit will work with you to help you build an alternate plan for Summer 2021.

Please follow this link for more information: https://www.viceprovoststudents.utoronto.ca/covid-19/

Virtual Inforum

A Virtual Inforum space has been created in Quercus. All iSchool students have been enrolled in the course. We know the Inforum was an important hub for the iSchool community and so we have created a space in Quercus to run programming and share resources in an effort to keep our community connected and well supported.

Take a look at our Play Well resources, participate in a student-led online writing group, access library services and supports, explore a collection of libraries and museums from around the world and much more.

If you have not received a notification of enrollment please email inquire.ischool@utoronto.ca and we will help get you on.

Emergency Grants

If you find yourself in financial hardship due to the COVID-19 situation (or any other emergencies), please know that the Faculty and University is here to help.

For graduate students:

• Faculty of Information Grant application
  • If you have any questions about the process, or eligibility, feel free to connect with Sherry Dang (sherry.lin@utoronto.ca). Students are encouraged to outline the nature of the emergency, and how your finances have been impacted by the circumstances. Supporting documents may be requested once you’ve submitted your application.
• SGS emergency loan or emergency grant.

For undergraduate students: You can apply for an Emergency Assistance Grant.

Summer 2020 Courses

Summer 2020 courses will be delivered remotely.

Our current timetable is available online and we are working to add additional courses because we are expecting an increase in demand for the summer courses.

To give us a better sense of the potential the demand for summer courses, so if you’re planning to enrol into Summer course(s), please complete this 1 question survey.

Depending on the survey results, we might look to expand course sizes and course offerings to accommodate additional students

The dates for the summer term/s are as follows:

• First Session – F (May 4 – June 15), Exam week: June 16 – 19
• Second Session – S (July 6 – August 17), Exam week: August 18 – August 21
• Full Session – Y (May 4  – August 17)(no classes from June 29 – July 3 as it is the week of holidays; midterm assessments should be scheduled for the week of June 16-19), Exam week: August 18 – 21

We will continue to update the online timetable as more information becomes available. As always, do not hesitate to reach out the Student Services Team (inquire.ischool@utoronto.ca) with any questions.

Summer Courses & Tuition

All our Summer courses will be delivered remotely (as opposed to in-person). You’ll be eligible to enroll into 1.0FCE of Summer courses starting at 6am on April 1st, and able to enroll into another 1.0FCE on April 8th (details)

Full-time students will be able to enroll into a maximum of 2.0FCE of Summer courses, and part-time students will be eligible to enroll into a maximum of 1.0FCE of Summer courses.

If you are wondering about Summer tuition fees (or the lack of) – please review the details on Summer Tuition Fees, and also learn how you can apply for OSAP funding over the Summer (for domestic students).

Managing Upcoming Deadlines of Winter Term Assignments

We understand that students might be experiencing additional stress and challenges during this time. If you are unable to meet upcoming deadlines of assignments, that first point of contact is your instructor.

If your situation will negatively impact most of your courses, please do connect with Sherry Dang via email sherry.lin@utoronto.ca, on what your options might be going forward.

Some of the options are also outlined in more details below:

• accommodations within the term (by working with your instructors and your circumstances for the best outcome within the term)
• selecting up to 2 Winter 2020 courses as CR/NCR (you’ll be able to retroactively request for that in June 2020)
• course drop (students have till April 25th to drop a Winter term course without academic penalty)
• coursework extensions (students are eligible to request to extend their deadline(s) to complete assignments into the Summer sessions)

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Opting CR/NCR for a Course or Two (MI, MMSt and CDP Students):

In line with that change in policy from SGS, the Faculty of Information will allow each student to elect for up to two courses from the Winter 2020 term to be graded on a CR/NCR basis (i.e. instead of a letter grade for a course, you will receive a CR/NCR in its place). Please note this CR/NCR option is only available to Winter 2020 courses. 

Due to the governance processes, students will be able to retroactively request a CR/NCR with Student Services in June 2020, after the policy has been formally approved. 

Update June 4 2020:

Course Drop

We have extended the drop deadline of Winter 2020 term courses (without academic penalty), for this term, to April 25, 2020. This means that you can drop a course (or courses) through ACORN yourself, without having to go through an Add/Drop form.

Although students are able to make this course drop on their own through ACORN, we strongly encourage you to check in with us on all available options before following through with the drop. All queries can be directed to Sherry Dang, sherry.lin@utoronto.ca.

Coursework Extensions

As always, students with extenuating circumstances are eligible to request for coursework extensions if they need extension to assignment(s) beyond the end of the term. All such requests will be reviewed by the Committee on Standing at the end of the term. Given the COVID-19 situation this semester, the Committee on Standing will definitely take into consideration the circumstances that students have been in this term in reviewing extension requests.

Please connect with Sherry Dang, sherry.lin@utoronto.ca, if you have any questions about the process, or wish to chat about your options.

Fall-Winter Payment Deadlines & Monthly Service Charge Billing

Monthly service charge fee billing for unpaid 2019 Fall – 2020 Winter and 2020 Summer session fees will be suspended for the months of April to August 2020.

Students will still be required to pay the prior session fees by the Fall-Winter Pay or Defer to Register deadlines in August.  This will allow the student to be eligible to get a tuition deferral (register without payment) or to pay the Minimum Required Payment displayed on the ACORN invoice to complete registration for the Fall-Winter session.

Monthly service charge fee billing will resume on September 15, 2020.