DepEd expands online education platform
THE Department of Education ( DepEd) has expanded DepEd Commons, an online educational platform, to include Alternative Learning System ( ALS) learners.
Assistant Secretary for Alternative Learning System GH Ambat said the online platform reinforces the program’s objective of offering education anytime and anywhere as ALS caters to out- of- school youth and adult (OSYA) learners.
“In this time of uncertainty, we are glad that through DepEd Commons, our learners will still be able to continue learning. It is critical for us to provide them with more options to learn,” Ambat said.
“Through digital platforms like DepEd commons, ALS lives up to expectation of being the second chance education program that equips OSYAs to become productive contributors to nation building,” she added.
DepEd Commons wa s launched to support distance learning modalities precisely to continue the delivery of basic education to learners amid the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon.
DepEd data showed that a total of 777,044 ALS learners are enrolled nationwide for school year 2019-2020.
Meanwhile, Education Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio said DepEd Commons is a “big step” as the department looks for alternative ways to continue education for all types of learners despite the challenges.
“Allowing even our ALS learners to access our DepEd Commons is another big step in making learning happen even in the midst of the enhanced community quarantine,” he said.
Undersecretary Alain del Pascua said to date, DepEd Commons has a total of 2,614,605 users since its soft launch on March 14.
“In all other areas where there are signals coming from the telecommunications company, all of these schools are being readied now to have access online so that we could provide them with the appropriate technology and platform that they would be needing,” Pascua said.
The Open Educational Resources in DepEd Commons are authored by public school teachers who are subject experts, properly cited and acknowledged.