Online and Offline Classes at a Private University in Korea: Reflections and Considerations

Abstract

The coronavirus outbreak-initiated paradigm shift, requiring an abrupt and uncertain shift from traditional offline classes to entirely online ones, caught both instructors and students off guard. In attempting to provide classes that bore some semblance to the offline classes they replaced for the spring semester of 2020, several strategies were required, including reducing a 16-week term’s worth of material to 14 weeks, creating weekly lessons on the university’s Learning management system (LMS), utilizing both commercially available and self-published textbooks to provide a semblance of normalcy and structure to the classes, and developing new skill sets to use Zoom, YouTube, and the aforementioned university LMS – Blackboard, in this case – to keep students engaged and on track as the term progressed. This was made even more challenging since the university never formally declared that the entire term would be online, and so this article will outline the background, modifications made to the class content and materials, and reflections on how the author’s teaching style has changed for the duration of COVID-19 and afterwards.