On the morning of February 17, more than 600 faculty and students of Tsinghua SIGS went online for their first day of spring semester classes. To ensure the health of Tsinghua students, faculty and staff, online classes are offered as part of a wide range of prevention measures against the novel coronavirus.

Today, 26 courses held their first class online. Using a combination of different platforms and technologies such as Rain Classroom, Zoom and Tencent Meeting, faculty and students continued teaching and learning despite the distance.

Liu Peidong, Master’s student

"Today is the first day of the new semester. Although it is the first time that the class is broadcasted online, Prof. Xia's lively and engaging way of teaching quickly captured my attention. The use of handwriting tablets also improved our understanding in class."

Zhu Mingyan, Auditing student

"This is my first time taking a class through live broadcast. Although we are not physically located in a classroom, we are still learning the same content.  Prof. Xia's rhythm was easy to keep up with, and we could interact with him in real-time. Overall, I would say that our understanding was comparable to learning in a traditional classroom."

Liu Jilin, Master's student

"Interactive elements such as quizzes helped maintain our attention and highlight key points during class. The live commenting function was especially useful as Prof. Zhang could instantly give feedback and adjust the rhythm of the class."

While students are giving positive feedback on their online classes, we learn that behind the screens, our faculty have put in a lot of efforts to prepare for this first day of school.

Professor Xia Shutao, Course Instructor of “Channel Coding"

"It was very useful to practice and gain experience before the class started.”

A few days before the lecture, Prof. Xia tested out the online teaching platforms with teaching assistants, family members and classmates until he was proficient in operating them. This was to make sure that screen sharing, writing on screen and sound effects would run smoothly during the first day of class.

Professor Zhang Min, Course Instructor of "Microelectromechanical Systems Technology and Applications"

"The first online class in the morning went well because of the test lectures that we did last week, and as some system defects were fixed. Thanks must be given to the Academic Affairs and IT departments for their assistance for they have done a lot of work behind the scenes."

Edited by Karen Lee