With the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) keeping both students and teachers at home, schools have turned to technology to ensure that education continues even amid the COVID-19 crisis. Schools are using alternative teaching methods, such as through online platforms, social media channels, and other unconventional programs.
When classes were suspended, business professor Marj Palmares-Cruz had to think of a way to stay connected with her students at Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) – San Pedro Campus and PUP Open University. Her main concern was to finish the remaining sessions for the semester.
Not all her students own computers, so she utilizes an online app that everyone can access with free data: Facebook Messenger. To help them save their airtime, Cruz designed her instructional materials in such a way that there would be fewer online meetings. “Their output is submitted through Facebook Messenger as a group, in consideration of the students who don’t have gadgets and have limited internet access,” she says.
In addition, Cruz utilizes Google Classroom for individual submissions and for tracking a student’s work for courses that require monitoring. “I also make sure to post contents that are relevant to my students on my personal Facebook account.
That way, their learning never stops,” she says.
Continuous sessions
For Teacher Oliver Lara, the challenge was to continue therapy sessions with his students from Kids Home Intervention. The center uses a skill-based system to address children’s developmental delays, and his learners need to continuous treatment for their courses to be fully effective.
“Our Team decided to have online classes to ensure that our students receive the intervention they need and to facilitate skills across different platforms and settings,” he explains. They use Microsoft Teams to run their daily Virtual Classroom Management activities.
“Technology is very essential especially during this ECQ because it enables us to still be of service to our clients and students,” he says.
Ann Abacan of Sophia School in Mecauayan, Bulacan, says that the Internet enables the school uninterrupted operations. “Our teachers meet online once or twice a week using Zoom or Google Hangouts. Members of the school admin meet similarly around three to five times to follow up on tasks,” says the school owner-principal.
Sophia School launched a campaign on their school Facebook Page called “Share Ko Lang”, a series of creative videos featuring Sophian students, parents, and teachers sharing their experiences during their stay at home.
Disaster-resilient methodologies
Even prior to the COVID-19 crisis, educators have been using disaster-resilient teaching methodologies. One is the Dynamic Learning Program (DLP), designed to promote independent learning in students. The pedagogy uses parallel learning groups, activity-based multi-domain learning, in-school comprehensive student portfolio, and strategic study and rest periods to improve student academic performance as well as support teachers’ needs.
It has been adopted by several schools nationwide as a non-traditional and innovative teaching framework that can be implemented even during a crisis. During the 2013 Zamboanga Siege, students of Claret School in Zamboanga City (CSZC) had classes in the safety of their homes through the DLP. The situation today is not much different.
Education for all
As part of its initiatives under its education advocacy, wireless services provider Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) has conducted DLP trainings for teachers and schools nationwide. DLP Workshops were also held in various provinces for facilitators of Alternative Learning System (ALS), the flagship program of the Department of Education (DepEd) that offers non-formal education to out-of-school youth and adults who have failed to complete basic education.
“I created a group chat to teach my students and assign activity sheets for them to work on,” says Pinky Fabria, an ALS mobile teacher in Cagayan de Oro. Similarly, the Xavier University ALS Night School Program is relying on DLP to make sure its learners are prepared for their Accreditation and Equivalency (A&E) test. The exam is for ALS students who wish to enroll in secondary and post-secondary schools.
Technology for good
By thinking out of the box, making the most of available online resources, and staying true to their calling, educators are working to ensure that learning in the time of COVID-19 can happen at home.
PUP Professor Cruz, formerly with Smart, is glad that she is able to tap into her telco background to help her students. “What keeps me going is knowing that at the end of this crisis, I can listen to my students share their quarantine stories – in the classroom,” she says.
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