For the last two years, we have tolerated many major and minor inconveniences—the lockdown of school facilities, extremely limited club activities, the near disappearance of school events, and some feelings of isolation—caused by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
As for the library, since the first semester of 2020, opening hours have been reduced following the social distancing guidelines determined to prevent the spread of the disease. The school dormitory, the Dat-om fitness center, and indoor exercise facilities for PT, ballet, yoga, and pilates have all been closed at times. Plus, the Residential College Program (RC) for dormitory students, which includes artistic activities such as drawing, crafting, traveling, volunteering, and meeting older and younger students, etc., has also been severely curtailed. Many other school club activities and events have also been canceled or restricted.
This semester, despite the current state of Covid-19 in Korea, our school is pushing ahead with in-person classes. Many students and professors will therefore agree that our school is more energetic this semester. Many classes have resumed face-to-face, and school facilities and services are more available. Also, the seating layout of the library’s reading room was recently changed to enable sitting diagonally so that the room can accommodate more students. Furthermore, Student Hall 1 now offers dinner!
Despite eased Covid-19 restrictions, not all school facilities are available completely. Many entrances to buildings remain locked. Also, group study rooms in college buildings are not yet open, so students have no suitable places to stay between classes. Now, let us take a look at face-to-face classes.
1. How are face-to-face classes proceeding?
According to the 2022 instructional management policy, face-to-face classes are recommended, except during spikes in Covid-19 cases. So most students are now taking face-to-face classes. Face-to-face classes enable students to interact with their professors. Professors can monitor students’ expressions, sometimes make jokes to wake students up, or slow down for students who appear to be struggling. In this sense, the professors and students are satisfied with face-to-face classes.
However, not all classes are being conducted face-to-face. Some professors still feel that it is not safe enough to resume in-person learning. As a result, some classes are being taught online or using video lectures uploaded to the cyber campus.
The method of classes (online or face-to-face) is up to each professor. It seems like we need clearer guidelines for determining whether it is safe to have face-to-face classes (e.g. a maximum number of students.)
2. Did the school respond appropriately to the rapid increase in Covid-19 cases?
The school may insist that it is doing its best to conduct face-to-face classes this semester, but students have experienced and identified several problems. Students infected with Covid-19 are unable to take classes. In some classes, if students become infected during the final exam period, there will be no make-up exams or alternatives, meaning that such students will receive an F.
Some professors upload recorded lectures to help students catch up on the content missed because of sickness. However, some professors do not assist infected students. Professors and school officials seem to ignore this problem. Nobody is taking responsibility for it. They are all onlookers. At a time when more than 300,000 people contracted Covid-19 each day, the school simply seemed to believe that it was your business if you contracted Covid-19 and could not attend classes as a result.
3. Are extracurricular activities (school clubs, research fairs, etc.) running now?
We interviewed Mr. Hwang who is the vice-chairman of CNUBC (a bowling club with over 100 members). He replied to a question about the differences between club activities this year and last year. According to him, the frequency of activities is similar to last year. However, he said that as the participation of freshmen increases, we could expect more activities to be held per revised social distancing measures. As for using club rooms, they have been available since last semester. Also, The Club Fair is planned for later this year. It has not taken place over the last two years. As the rate of people receiving their third vaccination increases and the treatment for Covid-19 improves, he said that we can look forward to enjoying clubs soon. Lastly, we conducted an interview and survey to see how CNU students feel about this semester.
4. How do student feel about this in-person semsester?
We requested an interview with two engineering students. We asked them questions concerning their feelings on face-to-face university life and this semester in general.
Han Yeji answered, “As face-to-face classes began, though I felt more physical fatigue at first, I have begun to live a regular life. Also, the increasing opportunities to get along with my peers have made me realize that I really am a university student. This is the biggest change that I feel this semester. Although there are advantages to non-face-to-face classes, I am satisfied with my face-to-face classes because they are more efficient for me. I am so excited about the spring atmosphere on campus.”
Lee Hyunjoo said, “The ongoing pandemic makes us anxious, and infected students cannot attend lectures, which is unfair. I think that it would be better to utilize both in-person classes and virtual classes.”
We surveyed CNU students using the bulletin board on the mobile app “Every Time” and a KakaoTalk college group chatroom to grasp students’ overall thoughts on this semester. Thankfully, 59 students responded. We asked students to respond to eight items on our survey. Respondents had five choices for each item: Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree.
The first question asked if students felt they had resumed their normal school and daily lives compared to last semester when there were limitations due to Covid-19. Almost 67% of the respondents answered that they had resumed their normal lives, whereas only 10% of the respondents answered that they felt they had not. The second question asked if students felt anxious about Covid-19 in their daily lives. About 48% of the respondents answered “Agree” or “Strongly Agree,” and about 28% of the respondents answered “Disagree” or “Strongly Disagree.” It seems, then, that even though many students feel as though their normal lives have resumed, there is still much anxiety about Covid-19.
We then asked the respondents to indicate whether they were taking in-person classes or not. Except for three, all respondents were taking more than one in-person class at the time of their response. The next questions applied only to the students taking face-to-face classes. The fourth question asked if students felt that face-to-face classes made the campus feel more vibrant this semester. As we can guess by walking around the campus, 78% of the respondents answered “Agree” or “Strongly Agree.” The fifth question asked if students had a greater level of satisfaction in terms of their university lives compared to last semester. Fifty-three percent of the respondents answered “Agree” or “Strongly Agree.” As school services, classes, and club activities resume, though not yet the same as before, the satisfaction that students feel with their school lives has increased. The sixth question asked if face-to-face classes were having a positive effect on their relationships. Fifty percent of the respondents answered that they were having a positive impact on their relationships, but one-fifth of the respondents answered “Disagree” or “Strongly Disagree.” Undoubtedly, there are more opportunities to meet people than before by taking face-to-face classes and participating in diverse school activities. However, there are still quite a lot of problems to overcome in terms of building relationships. We seem to find meeting new people quite awkward following the last two years of social distancing.
The seventh question asked if students participated in face-to-face classes more actively than in online classes. More than 60% of the students answered “Agree” or “Strongly Agree,” and only 11.6% of the students answered “Disagree” or “Strongly Disagree.” Given the results of this question, it seems that face-to-face classes are making students study harder while also providing them with an enjoyable learning environment. The last question asked if students miss online classes such as using Zoom or watching recorded video lectures. Sixty-five percent of the respondents indicated that they miss online classes. As time goes by, more and more classes will resume in person, so it would be better to utilize the advantages of online lectures to complement face-to-face classes.
We also looked into the changes on our campus this semester. We are still on the way to recovering our in-person university life.
5. CNU beyond Coronavirus
How will it be once the Covid-19 pandemic is over? Sadly, it is hard for the students who started at CNU during the pandemic to imagine campus life without Covid-19. Luckily, I was able to learn about what university life was like before the pandemic from some Chungdae-Post senior reporters.
Campus life before the pandemic consisted of endless festivals and parties throughout the year. As spring came and the new semester began, Gaegangchonghwae (semester opening party), Hae-oreumje (academic and cultural festival) and the welcome party for freshmen were held. Hae-oreumje is a kind of religious ceremony held by the student council of each college to wish everybody good luck for the upcoming academic year. When April comes, cherry blossoms bloom all over the school campus, so the Cherry Blossom Festival was also held. The road leading toward the CNU dormitory is very beautiful with its full-bloomed cherry blossoms. Students used to go on college retreat too. In the second semester, a sports festival and Baekma Daedongje (university-wide festivals) were held. Baekma Daedongje was the biggest school festival. It included celebrities’ performances, many experience booths made by clubs, and various delicious snacks were available. We hope that we can enjoy this spirited campus soon.