Snow Days and Study Days: When Campus Students Need the Digital Pathway without Switching Awards

Abstract

This dissertation studies Frontier campus students who used digital materials during severe winter disruption. Continuity was high when the LMS already held the same assessed tasks as the room. Continuity collapsed when campus faculty treated the VLE as optional. The policy implication is not to abolish campus. It is to forbid a second, weaker syllabus hiding in the building. Frontier Innovation University’s two pathways should be a resilience design for Minnesota weather as well as an access design for students who never come to Austin.