"How do you find online lectures?" This is the question I hear most these days. The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which has changed everyone's daily life, presented me, as an instructor teaching students, with a new challenge of non-face-to-face lectures.
At first, it was overwhelming, but now, about two months after the semester started, I am enjoying real-time lectures where I communicate with students online through various methods such as watching videos, quizzes, group discussions, and impromptu assignments. Contrary to concerns, students actively participate and provide good questions and opinions, enriching the lecture content.
In fact, it was I who feared non-face-to-face lectures the most, having to learn and prepare for a new teaching method, while the students, who have been familiar with and freely use digital devices since childhood as 'digital natives,' naturally accepted it. These students belong to Generation Z, born between the mid-1990s and mid-2000s, following the Millennial generation born between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s. They are known not only for their characteristics as digital natives but also for their personal and independent personalities.
Why is Generation Z drawing attention in the current COVID-19 era? Significant events or crises can define a generation and determine its characteristics, and COVID-19 is a crisis that has had a tremendous impact worldwide.
Generation Z is experiencing unprecedented non-face-to-face online classes. As video chat services represented by Zoom are mainly used for online lectures, the young generation using Zoom is called Generation Zoom or Zoomers, a play on the term Baby Boomers. Although I do not use Zoom for lectures, I attend video meetings and seminars through Zoom as remote work has become common. It is interesting that young people in places with movement restrictions solve not only work and lectures but also meetings with friends and parties via Zoom.
Moreover, American media predict that Generation Z students about to graduate from high school or college may experience shocks similar to those of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks or the 2008 global financial crisis due to COVID-19.
The infectious disease that struck the world revealed problems in our society across fields such as healthcare and economy, exposing our true faces like selfishness and social inequality stemming from anxiety and fear.
Even if the COVID-19 situation calms down in the future, we cannot return to the past, and it is difficult to predict what changes will come in the so-called post-COVID era. The current pain and future uncertainty increase the anxiety of Generation Z. In Korea, Generation Z, who are experiencing difficulties in studies, internships, part-time jobs, and employment due to COVID-19, are sometimes called the 'COVID generation,' compared to the 'IMF generation' who had similar experiences during the 1997 financial crisis.
As face-to-face lectures are allowed in a limited way, a survey of students attending my lectures showed that about 80% preferred online lectures. While it may not satisfy everyone, I have decided to combine online and face-to-face lectures going forward. I intend to see this as an opportunity to expand experience through new challenges.
Generation Z, Generation Zoom, COVID generation. Whatever the name calling these generations, it is time to empathize with their anxieties and concerns and to implement policies and support to help them. I look forward to and support Generation Z, who are challenging themselves vigorously without losing hope.
Choi Se-jung, Professor, Department of Media and Graduate School, Korea University
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