The COVID-19, which started in January, has brought many inevitable changes to our society and universities. Starting with canceling many events such as graduation and entrance ceremony, universities across the country began to postpone the start of school in March, and the University of Seoul (UOS) eventually announced to carry out non-face-to-face lectures for the rest of the semester in the middle of April. Most of the school buildings, including lecture rooms, library and dormitory were closed, and the campus was in an unprecedented silence. Although it was said that face-to-face lectures were minimized for safety, the views of school members on this matter are all different. The UOS Times would like to find out the thoughts of the school members, through interviews with a senior, professor, freshman, foreign student, and student majoring in art and physical education.

The UOS Times interviewed a senior student in the department of Urban Sociology, who is attending her last semester and seeking for a job at the same time. She planned to acquire a degree-related certificate in March while listening to the rest of the lectures this semester. In fact, non-face-to-face lectures reduced the burden of commuting to school which quite encouraged her, but the problem was elsewhere. The certificate exam was scheduled three times a year, but when the March exam was canceled due to COVID-19, there was no choice but to prepare for the next one in June. Her plan to finish that exam in March and prepare for the other certificate exam in October was ruined. Other than that, the TOEIC(Test of English for International Communication), computer programming and foreign language exams were all canceled or postponed, causing great difficulties for job seekers.

As she couldn’t attain the necessary certificates, she couldn’t even apply for internship. Moreover, multiple companies dramatically reduced the number of public recruitments. According to the job search platform "Saram In," the number of registered job openings on weekdays fell 32.7 percent year-on-year in Mach, and in particular, the number of job openings for new employees declined 44.4 percent. Also, all the job programs that were conducted by the job platform at UOS changed to be offered completely online, which are actually less effective than offline meetings. COVID-19 seems to have made the future much more unstable and uncertain, she said.

Lee Hyun-jung, who is a professor in Chinese Language and Culture, is teaching two lectures this semester. She teaches her lecture by recording the presentation slide show in advance and uploading it on the Microsoft Teams. Unlike the offline lectures which can be supplemented by students' reactions, for online lectures, she had to carry them out by making preparing for them as perfectly as possible. In order to overcome the limitations of interacting with students, she also conducted discussions and Q&A sessions on the online chat room, and through weekly attendance and extra review tasks, she checked the students' level of understanding and reflected them in the next lesson.

She said online lectures have the advantages that students can concentrate on their studies more safely, and even students who are usually reluctant to speak can express their opinions without much burden. However, the fact that she cannot have face-to-face lectures still makes her feel uncomfortable. Furthermore, it takes more time for her to prepare for an unfamiliar online class method and check the added tasks. Personally, she printed out pictures of students and put them in front of her laptop to improve her teaching environment. She hoped that though it is a difficult environment for students to concentrate, they will try hard to the end. Although lecture methods have changed due to COVID-19, she thinks it is necessary to follow the changes and circumstances of the times, and in order to obtain the maximum effect through this, much research and effort is needed in the future.

We also talked with a freshman in the department of Chemical Engineering. After graduating from high school, he studied another year to enter our school, so he said he had high expectations on campus life. Unfortunately, non-face-to-face lectures were conducted, and he could not enjoy what he had expected. He was disappointed that various kinds of events, especially the freshman orientation, were all canceled. Naturally, it has become very difficult to get to know friends in the same department. The end of the first semester is approaching, but he has never met his classmates in the same department until now.

Usually, freshmen get a lot of help from their seniors in adapting to their new school life. However, this time, it is difficult. He said he had never met his seniors in person, so he did not hear any information about classes or tips on school life. Fortunately, the department's student council is trying to reduce this inconvenience by operating a mentor-mentee system, but that was not enough.

All the classes he takes are non-face-to-face. As he is familiar with ‘Ingang’ (Internet lectures, in English), he had no major inconvenience in taking the classes. But Nonetheless, there was some inconvenience in communicating with the professor, he said.

In addition, he said that with the non-face-to-face lectures, there seem to be more students preparing for ‘Bansu’ than the previous year. 'Bansu’ means preparing to go to another university without taking classes or taking fewer classes after enrolling in a university. Due to non-face-to-face lectures, freshmen lost their chance to enjoy campus life. The interviewee also said that if non-face-to-face lectures are held in the second semester, he would like to consider it too.

A Chinese student from the department of Korean language and literature said she was satisfied with the school’s response. When she returned to Korea from China at the end of February this year, she was could be quarantined in our school dormitory. The school also provided vehicles for students from the airport to the school and gave them necessary supplies such as meals, daily necessities, and disinfection supplies. She said that the existing offline tutoring program was also conducted online, helping foreign students with questions and assignments about classes. In addition, the Institute of International Cooperation and Education is immediately delivering information that foreign students need, such as information about visas, dormitory applications, and cotton masks through the Foreign Student Club.

The online lecture was also said to have been satisfactory. When it comes to the real-time lectures, she said that the professor communicates well with the students and at the same time, actively collects opinions on how the classes are. In the case of video lectures, she can listen to them again when she wants to, so it is good to review the lectures. Yet, there are some areas of burden because the attendance is checked by submitting the assignments.

However, not everyone is satisfied with the non-face-to-face lectures. This is especially true for students majoring in arts and physical education. A student in the department of Sports Science said that lectures that can only be taken in practice, such as tennis and marine sports, have not been conducted properly. He said it was regrettable that the classes, which should be conducted through practical training, were replaced by report assignments, and that he did not learn things that could only be learned through hands-on lectures such as posture and sense of practice. As COVID-19 gradually calmed down, several lectures asked students if they agreed on having face-to-face lectures, and only those who agreed were provided with face-to-face classes. Students who did not agree said they would instead watch video clips instead of midterms or final exams. However, there was confusion not only because of the evaluation criteria for those who did not want face-to-face lectures were vague but also because they did not know what disadvantages they would face.

It is no exaggeration to say that all members of our university have been confused by the unprecedented situation by COVID-19. Especially in our university, the impact was greater due to the lack of preparation for non-face-to-face classes. Fortunately, this semester ended without much trouble, but it was not perfect. In the future, there could always be situations where non-face-to-face lectures are required. The UOS Times hopes that the opinions and suggestions of the members of our university in the article will be reflected in the summer semester classes at the earliest, and furthermore, it will be a reference when similar situations occur in the future.

Jang Beom-gyu, Park Ji-yeong