Teaching Organic Chemistry at the American University of Beirut Through the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has single-handedly overturned a traditional lecture-based educational system at universities on a global scale. The required abrupt move to an online platform for education has caused tremendous challenges for educational systems in general and specifically also in the chemical sciences. In Lebanon particularly, the COVID-19 pandemic raked havoc on a country entrenched in popular uprising and riddled by an economic collapse observing unprecedented devaluation of the national currency. In this situation, the move to online education had caused tremendous stress and burden for faculty and students raising the need to develop mitigation strategies by embracing reduction in material and a careful consideration of students’ mental health. This commentary presents the author’s experience of delivering undergraduate Organic Chemistry courses at the American University of Beirut (AUB) through the COVID-19 pandemic, during the spring and summer 2020 semesters. While the author’s pre-recorded lectures of Organic Chemistry I were vital to the online delivery of course material, this commentary particularly highlights the inclusion of supplementary online assignments that include: videos to illustrate a covered organic chemistry concept, instructional videos to explain a multiple choice question (MCQ) of their creation, a cartoon to exemplify an organic chemistry concept, a cartoon to reflect on studying organic chemistry during the COVID-19 pandemic and a group assignment that allowed students to assume social responsibility.