Teaching During the Coronavirus Pandemic Simona simeonova share it with students. In all of my classes, I’ve done this at least once—recording a lecture at home, then uploading it to Canvas. This is a timesaving bonus as it allows me to deliver a lecture that students can watch at their leisure.” It is a priority of AUBG professors that Classroom in Balkanski Academic Center (BAC). Photo courtesy of Angelina Kuznetsova. ne year ago, people’s lives changed drastically. No one was prepared for the arrival of the coronavirus and its consequences. COVID-19 has affected not only our physical but our mental health. Among the many challenges that the crisis brought was the sudden switch to online education. The American University in Bulgaria (AUBG) was no different. At the beginning of the spring 2020 semester, on Mar. 13, AUBG had to go fully online due to the health risks the coronavirus posed. As the fall 2020 semester approached, the university allowed students to decide whether to start their education online or on-ground with some lectures being online. Throughout the whole semester, faculty, staff, and students have been making great efforts to continue working at the same pace as before. Everyone has been demonstrating responsibility to prevent the spread of the virus. Nevertheless, the daily count of new cases in Bulgaria and the world has been increasing. On Oct. 29, AUBG had to switch to online classes once again. The learning experience has become entirely different for students ever since. They find it hard to stay motivated, focused, and active during classes. Professors at AUBG are also facing challenges concerning online teaching, keeping the students engaged, and covering all the material on time. “It is so different than being in the classroom and the hardest part is not having eye contact with the students,” says William Clark, a professor of Environmental Science and Biology at AUBG. One of the greatest difficulties many professors are facing is the lack of face-to-face contact with the students. In the 4 Fall 2020 | AUBG Daily virtual world, the professors are not always aware of whether the students are present or paying attention in the class. Professor Clark says he has decreased the amount of content and changed the exams which he usually gives to students. “The grading has become a little more flexible. I have been realizing that students are going to have a harder time submitting everything on time, and attendance is going to be a little more difficult,” he says. As it turns out, students are not the only ones who are learning. “I am figuring it out as I am going,” says Michael Cohen, a professor from the Literature and Theater department at AUBG. “Teaching is to a large degree a kind of performance in the sense that you have to engage the students, you should have that kind of energy. So I am performing to the students in class but at the same time trying to keep the students active while they are on camera.” Professor Cohen says that he was inspired to become a teacher because the profession is dynamic. Even though online teaching is more mechanical, he has discovered some positive sides to it. “One advantage of Zoom is that it makes it quite simple to record a lecture directly onto my computer and then students take in as much as possible from the classes. “This is another aspect that we aim to deliver. You are not only here to learn the material, but also to get satisfaction from the class,” says Rossen Petkov, a professor from the Business Department at AUBG. Petkov shares he feels lucky because the subjects he teaches lend themselves well to the online environment. “When we have discussions in Zoom, I could still collect feedback from students. I am certainly trying my best. But when you guys are in front of us, we professors could choose and pick students and invite them to participate. It is just not the same online.” Professor Kiril Kirkov from the Journalism and Mass Communication department believes that the communication between the students is one of the major challenges of online teaching. “A major part of my teaching design is based on a direct discussion in class. It is workable, but it is not easy,” he says. The key for things to work out well is to have patience from all sides - the students and the professors. In the end, it is all about respect, collaboration, and better understanding, since everybody is adapting to the changes. “Every day our beloved people like parents, friends, relatives are getting sick. It is inevitable. It is a pandemic out there. And this pandemic is also combined with other problems and issues everyone is experiencing all the time,” Kirkov says. “So why would we add more to that instead of trying to help each other to go through this challenging time in the best possible way?” Balkanski Academic Center (BAC), second floor. Photo courtesy of Angelina Kuznetsova.
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