Fall 2020 Planning - Student FAQ

Yes. The law school will offer courses primarily online in the Fall. We are actively planning a robust academic program for the Fall. For our joint programs, we will be coordinating with our counterparts in Social Work and Business, as well with UDM for our dual program. We are committed to prioritizing our people-centred and community engaged approach to legal education. As part of that planning, we have established a law school working group which includes student as well as faculty and staff representatives. In consultation with the working group, we are looking at some very limited exceptions to the online approach, where these exceptions are essential to our program learning outcomes.

We have established a law school working group which includes students as well as faculty and staff representatives. In consultation with the working group, we are actively planning for the Fall and are committed to prioritizing our people-centred and community engaged approach to legal education. Decisions pertaining to our course offerings will be made in the next few weeks.

As with all instructional practice, determining an ideal mix of activities and assessment to meet courses’ learning outcomes is course-specific, and depends also on the style and approach of the instructor. Professors will be receiving additional training on online instruction. Course descriptions will state method of delivery and expectations.

Similar to the Winter 2020 term, the law school will look at ways to provide technology support to students where applicable. There will be more information forthcoming, including with respect to how we support students with disabilities in this learning environment.

We will return to numerical grades for the fall term for courses that normally have numerical grades.

Courses are time-and resource-intensive to design, deliver, and support and the University is investing additional resources in this regard. Tuition will remain the same, however, the university and law school are currently reviewing ancillary fees. Students in the LLM program should consult the Cashier’s office or the Faculty of Graduate Studies for fee information.

In consultation with the law school working group and relevant instructors, we are currently considering this question. There may be some limited in-person clinical and experiential placements.

The working group will consult with staff of the Law Library and the Campus Bookstore, in order to plan around this.

The first-year experience is crucial in terms of academics and sense of community. The faculty, administration and SLS will all strive to ensure the best student experience possible, both curricular and extra-curricular. Orientation will be held online, however, we will strive to maintain our usual rich orientation programming and will look for chances for 1L students to connect with upper-year students.

Our location at the Canada-U.S. border remains a point of pride for Windsor Law. However, we recognize that COVID-19 has forced governments to temporarily shut down international border crossings to all but essential workers. Our Dual JD students who reside in the United States should not need to cross the border in Fall 2020, as Windsor Law classes will be primarily online. In June, Detroit Mercy Law decided that Fall Term 2020 courses will be online. Dual JD program director Christina Loebach is working very closely with our colleagues at UDM as they firm up virtual delivery options. We are also seeking opinions from outside legal counsel to ensure that there are no adverse student immigration implications.

Generally no. There may be possible exceptions for clinical and place-based learning. The limited exceptions to remote learning will be clearly identified in early June. Any other face-to-face activities in Windsor will be limited and have online alternatives. Students in the LLM program should contact the Associate Dean (Research & Graduate Studies) of the Faculty of Law for information about residency requirements.

Working with the SLS and student clubs, the law school will facilitate this kind of programming online wherever possible. This will include a robust speaker series.

Career Services will be bolstering our services and will remain available to assist you in Fall 2020. Individual career counselling, resume review and mock interviews will be scheduled virtually using Microsoft Teams, Zoom or Skype. All programming including workshops, panels and speakers’ events will be scheduled through the Blackboard virtual classroom. Recordings will be available so that you can access the programming on-demand if you are not able to join live. All Windsor Law students have now been added to the new Career Services organization on Blackboard and together with Symplicity, this ensures that students will have seamless access to career services staff and resources.

On September 17, University of Windsor President Robert Gordon updated the University of Windsor campus community on Winter 2021 plans, indicating that the majority of courses (including law courses) will continue to be offered through online delivery, with face-to-face offerings being provided where in-person interaction is integral to meeting program learning outcomes. This is essentially a continuation of our current approach, but with the possibility that additional co-curricular face-to-face activities will be mounted as COVID-19 conditions permit.