A personal account of teaching chemistry courses in the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted every aspect of life around the world. Colleges and universities were forced to close and shift to remote/distant/online learning.  This event resulted in classes being delivered online, prompting faculty in different chemistry departments to ponder on several questions. How can we maintain the same engagement we have in a face-to-face environment once we go online? Are we ready for this mode of teaching? How are we going to do the laboratory class? This same set of questions posed a challenge to me when the institutions I am teaching decided to shift on remote/distance learning. In this paper, I share my experiences on how we transition to this new teaching mode. Among these experiences include the preparations in classes (both lecture and laboratory) and the resources that I used. I will also discuss the preparation I made for my students and the reactions I got from them as we went on transition and by the end of the semester. I hope that this paper will be helpful to the readers (college and high school faculty) as they prepare for flexible learning once classes resume in the Philippines.