SCHOOL GUIDELINES FOR ONLINE ACADEMIC YEAR

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We recently reported that South Korea will be starting the new academic year online for the first time ever. With only two days left until the new term, the education ministry has announced guidelines on how to check attendance, and evaluate student performance while online classes are held.

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Schools across the nation will start the new semester through virtual classes on Thursday starting with middle and high school seniors. Attendance must be checked on every school day. But students who are absent from class can be acknowledged as attendance if they hand in documents proving their justifiable reasons in seven days. In the case of two-way, interactive online classes, teachers check attendance by identifying each of the students in real time. Social media messaging or phone calls can be used if the Internet connection is unstable. Other methods can be employed to check attendance for non-interactive online classes that rely on videotaped materials or assignments. They include records of log-ins to online programs for submitting assignments or watching pre-recorded lectures. Another possible way is to check when students upload their assignments on the web site. If all these methods are not available, attendance can be confirmed through text messages and phone calls as well as documents that prove attendance. Online courses can be recorded on students' report cards. However, it is possible only when teachers directly verify the progress and results of students' academic activities during or after online classes. For example, students are evaluated when they participate in a real-time video debate or upload videos of them playing musical instruments after class. Essays, book reports, presentation materials or videos will not be acknowledged as criteria for evaluating academic performance. Assignments and other academic activities can be evaluated in a similar manner. However, the ministry believes that in principle, it is fairer to grade students if they physically attend classes. Therefore, provincial and municipal education offices are expected to lower the proportion assignments account for in students' total grades from the current 40 percent to 30 percent. Written exams will be held only after offline classes resume. The education ministry hopes that mid-term exams can be held in late May and finals in late July.