| A teacher gives a class online from an empty classroom of Seoul Girls' High School in Seoul, Thursday, as the country finally started the new school year for seniors in middle and high schools after delays due to the COVID-19 outbreak. /Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul |
Schools start new semester with online classes
By Bahk Eun-ji
Seniors at middle and high schools began the new school year with online classes, Thursday, while buildings remained physically closed as concerns persist over the spread of COVID-19. The students were able to interact with their teachers remotely, after starting their studies 38 days after schools were originally scheduled to open, March 2.
Kim Woo-young, a homeroom teacher at Seoul Girls' High School, began her first class by checking students' attendance, calling out their names at 8:10 a.m. Through her desktop monitor, Kim also checked the students' faces. Most students answered "yes" when their names were called, in front of their web cameras, and waived their hands to say hello to the teacher and their friends.
Despite concerns over whether students and schools were ready for the online classes, the real-time interactive remote class progressed smoothly as the students were already somewhat used to learning through online platforms. They did not appear to be distracted or lose focus during the class.
Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae described the unprecedented online school opening as a "new challenge" and a desperate measure taken by the education authorities to prevent schools from becoming breeding grounds for the novel coronavirus.
"We believe schools cannot stop teaching students even in the midst of a crisis," Yoo said in a statement to urge students, parents and educators to work together to make the online school opening work.
As it was an unprecedented challenge, there were a few difficulties. Among the total 23 students in the class, 21 participated and checked their attendance through the Zoom video conferencing platform. The remaining two students failed to attend the remote class and didn't notify their teacher. Although Kim kept trying to contact them, she could not reach them until 8:30 a.m., nearly half an hour into the class.
"Some of our students have trouble getting up in the morning. We'll keep in touch," said the school's deputy principal, Choi Sung-hee.
Schools are expected to employ various methods to help students study remotely, such as teachers conducting classes with real-time interaction, using online lectures which were recorded in advance by national educational TV channels like EBS and giving projects or homework to students.
Educators expect that teachers of high school students and lower graders of primary schools will mainly focus on using the pre-recorded lectures and educational content of EBS for the remote classes.
"In high schools, there are not many options for the online classes except using pre-recorded videos as they have to spend more time preparing for the state college entrance exam at the end of the year. In addition, it is difficult to encourage teachers to conduct classes with real-time interaction as the number of schooldays has been reduced due to the repeated delay of the school year," Choi said.
Last week, the education ministry announced its plans to start the new school year with online classes for seniors at middle and high schools, before expanding the remote learning program to lower graders.
Freshmen and sophomores at middle schools and high schools as well as fourth to sixth graders in elementary schools will begin the new semester next Thursday. First to third graders at elementary schools will start taking online classes from April 20, while classes at kindergartens and daycare centers have been indefinitely postponed.