Matt Chung's Site

Category: COVID19

  • Got the COVID-19 Pfizer vaccination

    Got the COVID-19 Pfizer vaccination

    What did we do?

    • Jess and I received our first dose of the Pfizer vaccination, our second dose scheduled for 3 weeks from now.
    • We were able to get the vaccination since Jess had heard, through a mom’s group she’s part of, that breastfeeding mothers (along with their partners) were eligible through a Kaiser clinic. So after signing up a week early, we strolled into the Renton vaccine clinic and were in and out within 20 minutes.

    What are the after effects?

    • Jess is a super human and had almost zero effects (she did dose herself lots of vitamin C a week before, so that could be the reason)
    • I felt mentally foggy within the first hour and by the second hour, I was very lethargic, my energy zapped, requiring me to take a 2.5 hour nap to recover
    • Before heading to bed, I had a dead arm, my arm feeling as though someone punched me about 100 times

    Getting the vaccination wasn’t a black/white decision

    • The vaccination is not FDA approved
    • The vaccination was made publicly available at an accelerated rate
    • Jess is/was worried about the long term impact
    • For me, the vaccination is one step forward in returning back to a sense of normalcy, reducing my anxiety and general nervousness of feeling that I’m going to catch COVID-19
    • We can more safely travel to U.K. and visit Jess’s family

     

     

  • Just a thought: On working from home

    Just a thought: On working from home

    Like almost everyone else working remotely due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, I struggled with adjusting to the work from home situation, more than I could’ve possibly anticipated. I found difficulty in my daily routines suddenly disappearing; my deeply ingrained habits vanished out of thin air: no more commuting to the office; no more breathing in the fresh, cold air during my walks to the bus; no more swinging by the local gym for a short 30 minute mental and emotional exercise; and no more leaving the house. On top of wrestling with the change in routines, the constant at home interruptions kicked me in the butt:

    No way to shut people out; no way shut myself in.

    I cannot begin to count the number of moments where I reached a deep state of focus, only to be interrupted, either by my adorable daughter or by one of my two dogs or by my beautiful wife. Although these interruptions knocked me off my balance, I’ve adapted to them and, on some level, grown to appreciate them. Without my family unit, I would be just another lone wolf. And I’ll take interruptions all day long over being lonely.

  • My First Research Paper: COVID19 and the impact on higher education

    Abstract—This research paper explores the impact of the COVID-19 health crisis on the education sector by unpacking the challenges and successes of the forced migration of professors and their curricula onto online learning platforms. Quantitative research was conducted in the form of a domestically focused survey to determine the success of those teaching models and the transition to online education by focusing on the experience of educators. This paper ultimately argues that under the specter of a pandemic, the ensuing online education has been as successful as possible, and that despite a myriad of global negative impacts, COVID-19 has opened the door to reform traditional learning, allowing educators to take advantage of this golden opportunity to unlock the power of online education.

    Above is the abstract pulled from my first ever research paper: What does effective education look like in the context of COVID-19, and how can subsequent successes and challenges be measured in order to ensure the future of online learning and the educa- tors that make it possible?

    I conducted the research (read at least three dozen of other educational peer reviewed papers, designing my own survey, sending survey out to thousands of professors teaching domestically) over  this past summer as part of Georgia Tech’s Educational Technology Course. Essentially, I wanted to identify the “best practices” of teaching in the midst of COVID19 and compare them against what was really happening: chaos.

    For the survey, I was able to collect responses from 500+ professors teaching at universities including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Georgia Tech University, University of Washington and much more1.

    Surveyed professors teaching at schools including Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Georgia Tech University, University of California Berkeley
    Surveyed professors teaching at schools including Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Georgia Tech University, University of California Berkeley

     

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