Bulletin No. 2, 2020

16 Chinese University Bulletin No.2, 2020 Isabella Poon Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) issues. She was as candid in her responses as she was quick in rendering the necessary assistance. Competing with time, she only had few hours of sleep every day during that period. ‘Not only me, but the colleagues of ITSC also put in many hours, especially those leading the project. It was tough going, but we were driven by the wish to get it done and done well.’ Adrenaline gushed until the moment of truth on 17 February. In the first week of the digital era, she and her team stood by every day from eight in the morning to nine in the evening in front of the computers to keep watch on the logging in of teachers and students and the status of the Wi-Fi. At the same time they had set up platforms where they could immediately respond to enquiries. When the day’s work was done, the team would meet on Zoom to take stock of the questions received and discuss the solutions. Only after that would each return to attend to matters within his or her normal portfolio. Poon took comfort in the kind words and reassuring remarks of the associate deans and coordinators before the term commenced. Reassurance turned to jubilation in July when results of the subject surveys and teaching evaluations came in: out of a possible 6, the adjusted average was 5.3, a figure comparable to results in pre- pandemic times. ‘This number was out of our expectation. We tried very hard and had great confidence in our teachers. But an online lesson was bound to face tremendous challenges. Photo by Keith Hiro Leaving a Trace and an Aftertaste —Navigators of the New Normal