By Berrin Yeshil (11th)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To the first question about the effect of online schooling on teachers and students alike, Neycheva responded that all of this huge change\u00a0began on March 13, when\u00a0most people still failed to comprehend its range. She proudly added that\u00a0the English Language High School was a successful\u00a0part of the “revolution” in adapting to online education, taken up\u00a0as the only option “to keep the school year going.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0Of course, this online-only schooling\u00a0has\u00a0some 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The most used platform was MSTeams,\u00a0which 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.\u00a0\u00a0According to Neycheva, the main disadvantage was the lack of “live contact\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0On the other hand, online learning can also\u00a0affect students’ health and lifestyle adversely. According to Mrs. Neycheva, the long hours spent by the participants working\u00a0on computers affects the eyes. As for other effects,\u00a0she\u00a0expects specialists to publish reliable results and conclusions from their studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0When it comes to\u00a0\u00a0the future, the director anticipates online schooling will certainly\u00a0\u00a0make 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This interview was conducted by e-mail.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n