Start of the schoolyear in the Philippines is an event that parents and their school-age kids await with plenty of excitement and bits of anxiety. This year, however, with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) still lurking in our midst, apprehension overshadows anticipation.
Blended/Distance learning was proposed by the Department of Education (DepEd) as an alternative to the traditional face-to-face classes in a physical school. An educational strategy that enables students to attend learning sessions in the safety of their homes, the Blended/Distance learning can be managed through printed modules being delivered to the homes of students or picked up by their parents; online learning resources such as the DepEd Commons; and television or radio-based instruction.
For the modular approach, teachers will be formulating lessons that contain activities and review questions for students.
The public high school is currently conducting a survey among parents and students on their learning preferences – the choices being online, modular, radio, and tv.
Like other schools in the country, they have adopted the non-face-to-face interaction. Enrollment is conducted online, but parents have the option of sending their children’s required documents through a drop box located at the school’s guard station. Last March, when the ECQ was ongoing, students graduated through online ceremonies via the school’s Facebook page.
In the public school where she teaches, parents and their children are also asked to choose in a survey whether they prefer modular, online, radio or tv type of instruction. For Teacher Helen, who teaches Technology and Livelihood Education at Grade 6, the modular approach might be more doable because many students do not have gadgets nor an internet connection in their homes.
To provide a more meaningful learning and teaching experience for dedicated teachers and their students amid the challenges of the current crisis, leading telco and digital services provider PLDT and its wireless subsidiary Smart Communications are working with the DepEd to support its blended learning strategy. The two companies are focusing their efforts on improving the digital tools and solutions for the education system in the country.
PLDT has recommended a broad range of digital solutions to the DepEd. These include learning management systems, digital infrastructure and connectivities, wireless and fiber plans, and digital devices for the 1.2 million teachers and 32 million students in the country.
It has also proposed the use of the satellite broadcasting systems of Cignal for use in blended or distance learning.
To complement these technology solutions, Smart has offered to help teachers in using an innovative learning system called the Dynamic Learning Program which can be effectively used in modular, online and on-air learning settings.
Together with the DepEd, PLDT-Smart is helping redefine the future of learning for Filipino schoolchildren nationwide.
To know more about the efforts of the PLDT Group in beating the COVID-19 pandemic, please visit https://beta.pldt.com/covid19/
