The current situation regarding the novel coronavirus strain, COVID-19, has affected the lives of all of us, causing businesses, families and individuals to change the way we all live our lives and go to work. Although change can be a shock to the system, we live in a time where adapting to change has never been easier thanks to the technological advancements at our disposal.
In the middle of March 2020, all faculty and staff at the University of Waterloo understood the impact to our campus and students if the University were to implement lockdown procedures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. In the span of a week, numerous large-scale changes had taken place amidst the evolution of this pandemic including the cancellation of in-person classes in favour of online methods of course delivery and a work-from-home policy for campus employees. To accommodate this switch, classes were cancelled for one week to allow instructors time to set up and implement the last few weeks of lectures through online delivery. Every faculty and department on campus quickly adapted to these changes as we were forced into the digital world.
Although the first week of changes was quite hectic, our Department of Physics & Astronomy pooled together all the resources we had to make things work. It was extremely heartwarming to see our faculty and staff support each other through these difficult times by providing guidance for online lectures and technical support for all purposes. An online environment was set up to allow our department to maintain an open line of communication with each other in order to ensure our undergraduate and graduate students were safe and could continue their education online.
The push towards online lecturing has caused each and every instructor to rethink and restructure their courses, update their materials, and create new methods of course delivery that will no doubt impact the future of teaching in our department, a process that was already set into motion well before the advent of this pandemic. Several faculty members have already been running successful online courses (such as PHYS 111 and 112), or implementing online tools within their courses (such as Crowdmark for assessments)—their expertise has been invaluable during these times.
With many of our students returning to their homes in different time zones, both synchronous (live) and asynchronous (pre-recorded) online components had to be created to accommodate students from all over the world. Our instructors have now taken advantage of online course delivery tools such as WebEx, Bongo and Learn to offer interactive learning experiences for students in all courses while maintaining online discussion boards to help connect students with each other, and with their instructors. We are also thankful to all of the students who have continued to keep in touch and have been understanding of our efforts, offering input and feedback along the way to make things better for their peers.
Although the shift to online learning due to COVID-19 has been stressful for everybody, we will get through it together. Online learning is drastically different than face-to-face learning, and although our shift may not be perfect, we are all working towards improving the courses that we offer. The last few weeks of Winter 2020 have been demanding for everyone in our department, but we have learned from our experiences and will start the Spring 2020 term on a positive note during these trying times.
