From Bed to Classroom 1 Meter Away... Visiting the Classroom of 12th Graders on the First Day of Online School Opening

Calling Attendance via Video Conference
After Two-Way and One-Way Classes, Ending with Homeroom
30-Minute Class Followed by Self-Study Assignments

Yoo Eun-hye: "We Will Take an Uncharted Path
An Opportunity for Innovation to Accelerate Future Education"

On the 9th, when all middle and high schools nationwide started online classes beginning with 3rd-year high school and 3rd-year middle school students, a teacher is conducting an online class in a classroom at Seoul Girls' High School in Mapo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

"Please wave your hand when I call your name."

At 8:10 a.m. on the 9th, homeroom teacher Kim Woo-young is presiding over the morning assembly in the classroom of Class 5, 3rd grade, Seoul Girls' High School in Yeomni-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul. "Minju (pseudonym), where are you? Minju? Please answer a little louder so the teacher can confirm." "Yes, teacher, I am here." "Tomorrow as well, you must attend the video conference starting at 8:10 a.m. without fail."

Out of the total 23 students, 21 responded. The assembly was conducted through the online video conferencing program Zoom. The new homeroom teacher and students met for the first time 'online' that day.

Teacher Kim confirmed the students' attendance by marking O on the attendance sheet. The two students who did not attend will be contacted again by phone. "Don't postpone lectures, follow the timetable well, and let's meet at the end of the day in good health."

The unprecedented online school opening was implemented starting with 3rd grade high school and 3rd grade middle school students. Among the 5,453,000 elementary, middle, and high school students nationwide, about 410,000 are 3rd grade middle schoolers, and about 440,000 are 3rd grade high schoolers. Although this is an unavoidable form of educational activity due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Yoo Eun-hye expressed expectations, saying, "Korea will take a path no one has gone before, and the online school opening will be a definite opportunity for educational innovation that accelerates future education."

After attendance confirmation, the first period class began. The timetable for Class 5 that day was Physical Education, Reading, Korean, Elective A, English Reading, Essay Writing, and Elective C. There are two types of class formats: interactive and one-way. Interactive classes are real-time lessons conducted while checking students' feedback. One-way classes are like recorded broadcasts. Pre-recorded videos are uploaded to the EBS Online Class platform for students to watch.

Teacher: "Communication is actually easier"
Students: "More fun than expected"
Challenges: Video quality and server overload

The location was moved to the classroom of Class 3, 3rd grade to observe the class progress. The first period of Class 3 was an interactive psychology class. Teacher Lee Kyung-joo asked students to "please turn on your cameras for a moment" to confirm attendance. After confirming attendance, she displayed a PowerPoint on the screen. A student wrote in the chat window, "I can't hear the sound." Teacher Lee took action and resumed the class. "Is the superpower to read others' minds psychology? Sojeong (pseudonym), would you like to talk about it freely?" Sojeong's voice came through the teacher's laptop speakers after turning on the microphone. "I think it can be included. Because superpowers come from trying to empathize with others and thinking about how they think."

On the laptop screen divided into small squares like a Go board, the expressions of the new students who started the new school year 38 days late were varied. Behind someone's face was a kitchen, behind another was a curtain, and behind another was a 'tree.' It looked like they were attending class outdoors, but the teacher, who was also new to this, did not seem to have the leisure to check each situation individually.

The students followed the class quite well. After the 30-minute class ended, one student shared, "I was very worried because it was the first time, but it was more fun than I thought." The teacher said, "The program itself might seem a bit complicated, but since the kids are familiar with the online environment, there was no major difficulty in communication."

On the 9th, when all middle and high schools nationwide began online classes starting with 3rd-year high school and 3rd-year middle school students, a teacher at Seoul Girls' High School in Mapo-gu, Seoul, opened the morning assembly online and took attendance in the classroom. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Vice Principal Choi Seong-hee said, "Even for one-way classes, since they need to be linked with midterm and final exams, we plan to manage learning by assigning homework or questions at the end of the class or providing worksheets to prevent learning loss," adding, "Teachers can also receive students' questions during the class time."

Class time is about 30 minutes, shorter than the usual 50 minutes in the classroom, with the remaining time used for assignments. Song Won-seok, the head of research at the school, explained, "It might be difficult for kids to continuously stare at a small screen for 50 minutes, so we structured the time this way to enhance class effectiveness."

The day will somehow pass, but it is uncertain how long the students, teachers, and school can endure. There are concerns about the quality of videos produced in relatively poor environments, and the issue of server overload on the EBS Online Class platform is continuously raised. Teacher Song said, "I started working at 7 a.m. today to upload next week's lectures, but I kept seeing the 'loading' screen and gave up for now," adding, "Since lighting and microphones are not properly set up, teachers are complaining about difficulties in improving video quality regardless of the class content."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.