I am an Information Technology tertiary educator in one of the schools south of Metro Manila in the Philippines. Being a technology instructor, our department were expected (assumed) at least being able to deliver lessons and/or instructions both onsite and online. Personally, I have been conducting online classes with onsite delivery for the past three years and find it very interesting and amusing at times.
With the world at a standstill, the current effect of COVID-19 has shifted on how things were being conducted, especially in delivering education to learners. Since the suspension of onsite classes due to the community quarantine which started last March 10, online learning became not only as a household byword but a realization that needs to be addressed by every institution, public or private, basic education to higher studies.
I have communicated with representatives from different institutions, from students, faculty up to the administrators, and was able to gather vital information on how they viewed and implemented online learning and classes.
Through the communications, I was able to talk to a total of 27 institutions coming from different parts of the country. Twenty-one (21) of them are private schools, universities and colleges and six (6) are State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) and/or Local College and University (LUCs).
The consultations and interviews were able to produce following common observations on how online classes have been delivered across the schools:
- Schools have been using a learning management system more specifically the free ones
- Google Classroom
- Moodle
- Edmodo
- Blackboard LMS
- Schoology
- Online classes were being conducted using video conferencing
- Zoom
- Google Meet
- Collaborate
- Using different platforms for communication
- Facebook Messenger
- Google Hangouts
- Viber
- Activities, quizzes, learning/reading materials were uploaded to keep up with the times that classes were not meeting
- Class work/outputs were submitted online through different platforms
- Usage of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as part and/or alternative to the lectures and lessons
As of this time, 22 of the 27 schools have already suspended conducting online classes due to various reasons ranging from student/teacher/instructor concerns to connectivity matters. Some of the schools have decided to extend their current calendar anticipating the implications of the continued suspension because of the community quarantine. While some have already giving instructions about the uploaded materials and produce outputs for submission once onsite classes resumes.
The institution where I am currently connected with have been continuing in delivering the necessary requirements in line with the calendar defined at the start of the academic year. During the start of the online classes up to this point, I have received feedback from students, teachers and instructors regarding issues that each have encountered being involved in this specific exercise. This also prompted me to ask students, teachers and instructors from other institutions about concerns about online classes.
The following were collected and summarized voices from students, teachers and instructors regarding their issues dealing with online classes and learning.
STUDENTS:
- No internet connection at home
- Poor internet connection at location
- No actual device for attending online classes and the creation and submission of tasks (most were using smartphones)
- The need to go out of the house during the quarantine period to purchase internet load to attend classes
- Considering the heavy workload on online classes (requirements, etc.)
- Sharing of resources/equipment at home
- Personal reasons that relates to family, anxiety that leads to depression, and concentration to academics
- No/Poor internet connection at home
- No desktop or laptop to conduct online classes
- Inadequacy of using technology in conducting online classes especially with non tech-savvy ones
- Since the online approach is quite new to some, additional effort is needed to learn which will be an additional burden
- Much more work on the part of the teachers/instructors where even tech-savvy professors spend more than two times as much of the number of hours compared to regular classroom learning because even after scheduled sessions, outputs or written concerns keep pouring in which sometimes can be overwhelming
- Additional work is the monitoring of students coming to class and the submission of needed requirements that were sent online
- The direct communication of teachers/instructors to students tend to extend further from regular class hours
- More tiring and stressing due to teachers were just glued in their seats, very limited movement as teachers/instructors were used to moving around the classroom
Given the following methods schools have conducted and the concerns that the students and teachers/instructors have addressed, the following are my realizations on the implementation of online learning and classes:
- Not all schools have the capability to deliver online learning/classes maybe due to the lack of equipment, technical know-how, and other issues not mentioned
- All schools have a way of communicating with their teachers, instructors and students through various platforms that are available especially if it is free
- Schools should have a program to train teachers and instructors in conducting online learning and classes that will not diminish the quality that needs to be delivered
- Schools should be ready in delivering online learning and classes in case of situations such as pandemics, national and global conflicts, and others that are beyond our control
- The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) may start laying the foundation on how online learning and classes should be delivered where schools can follow
- An affordable and reliable internet connection which is available for all regardless of location (I know it is a pipe dream, but I can always wish right?) and;
- Support is needed from all stakeholders that has a hand on the conceptualization, implementation, delivery and cooperation from the ones who will undergo the programs at hand.
The COVID-19 situation created a scenario when all of this is said and done, we will not be able to look the world the same way again. Same goes to education as I see that through these experiences, institutions will explore the possibility of improving their environments towards the delivery of online learning and classes.
The experiences also made people unite, be more resilient and hopefully adopt the new direction in which education can be disseminated to its target learners. The future is already at hand, let us take advantage of these powerful tools to make better individuals of tomorrow.
