A Quick Shift from Classroom to Google Classroom: SWOT Analysis

COVID-19 caught everyone by surprise, and the situation quickly escalated from epidemic to pandemic. By February 21, 2020, the first positive case was reported in Lebanon, and following that, by March 12, 2020, the decision to close all educational institutes was put into effect. Online learning is not an approved form of education in Lebanon, which meant that none of the Lebanese universities was prepared to make a complete shift from face-to-face learning to online learning. Immediate actions were taken at the Lebanese International University starting at the level of the University Council, all the way to the level of individual departments. The approach of the Department of Biological and Chemical Sciences is best described as “break barriers, build bridges, and launch transitions”. An initial assessment of strengths and weaknesses helped the department develop a model of online learning that took advantage of the readily available online tools (e.g., Google Classroom) while modifying the format of content delivery and assessment with the minimal potential for disruption by inadequate Internet, interruptions in electricity, and limited access to expensive hardware and software. A SWOT analysis of the model was done based on the survey that was given to the chemistry instructors in the department while taking into consideration the emails and comments received by students.