By Berrin Yeshil (11th)
I interviewed Zhakleen Neycheva, director of Geo Milev High School, to find out how the online education program, implemented because of the worldwide spread of the Coronavirus, affected both students and teachers this year.
To the first question about the effect of online schooling on teachers and students alike, Neycheva responded that all of this huge change began on March 13, when most people still failed to comprehend its range. She proudly added that the English Language High School was a successful part of the “revolution” in adapting to online education, taken up as the only option “to keep the school year going.”
Talking about its effect, she said, would be analyzed for many years and she is curious to find out more, even though most surveys during online school showed that both sides were satisfied.
Of course, this online-only schooling has some advantages and disadvantages. Concerning the pros and cons, discussed by the politicians and specialists, the director answered that the advantage was clearly expressed by having a good base for students’ learning using online platforms, although there were some technical problems which they were trying to solve.
She explained that at the beginning the IT specialists worked hard for three days in order to help the teachers learn how to cope with the new situation. Although they expressed some complaints, teachers managed to provide excellent resources and supported the students along the way, Neycheva said.
The most used platform was MSTeams, which mainly started to be active from the second week; thanks to the hard work and devotion of the team to get the ball rolling, e-school and MOODLE were also accessible without any breaks. According to Neycheva, the main disadvantage was the lack of “live contact” between the two partners in the education process — the teacher and students. So, no matter how proficient the platforms were, it wasn’t possible to convey knowledge and to educate students in a traditional way.
On the question of how effective this type of education was, she repeated that Geo Milev High School was among the most successful schools. She added that the presence of students in MSTeams was shown by graphs illustrating their activities and log-ins in e-school. That is how it was shown that participation and learning were considered to be beyond initial expectations.
On the other hand, online learning can also affect students’ health and lifestyle adversely. According to Mrs. Neycheva, the long hours spent by the participants working on computers affects the eyes. As for other effects, she expects specialists to publish reliable results and conclusions from their studies.
When it comes to the future, the director anticipates online schooling will certainly make its way into the curriculum. Changes to the laws governing education are expected to include new rules regarding online teaching as one of the possible types of education, she said.
This interview was conducted by e-mail.