Flexible Learning is the future of PH higher education – CHED
Since last year, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said that the country’s education system has been trying to adjust to the realities of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
In higher education, one of the responses of CHED to the challenges brought by COVID-19 is adopting a Flexible Learning policy.
“I have said that in the next school year and after that, Flexible Learning is here to stay as far as higher education is concerned,” CHED Chairman Popoy De Vera said in a public forum on the Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM) of 1991 organized by the Department of Education (DepEd) on Aug. 13.
De Vera noted that the COVID-19 pandemic is currently the biggest challenge in Philippine higher education.
However, he also noted that while COVID-19 is a challenge to many universities, it can also be an opportunity to others.
The future of higher education
Due to the pandemic, De Vera said that the entire system was forced to adapt to various challenges.
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), in particular, have been preparing their campuses and faculty to ensure their operations even amid the ongoing pandemic.
“We will see a system where universities will have to determine the proper mix and match of learning delivery systems appropriate to the health situation on the ground, the capability of their faculty and students, connectivity, and their own capacity to do it,” De Vera said.
He explained that the universities that have invested in technology and those that have trained their teachers for technology-mediated learning will have the “capacity to push ahead faster” compared to others.
“Other universities who will do a catch-up system to be able to maximize the opportunities of Flexible Learning,” he added.
Flexible Learning, De Vera explained, is a combination of all live and limited face-to-face as well as online and physical classes in HEIs.
Dealing with challenges
De Vera has been visiting various HEIs nationwide to “know what is happening” on the ground.
Based on his conversations with affected schools and its administrators, local executives, and students, he noted that COVID-19 is the biggest challenge in higher education to date because it continues to affect the entire system.
“To me, that is the biggest challenge because it's not only improving connectivity and technology, we will now have to adjust the curriculum, we have to review learning outcomes [and] we will have to create better systems of accreditation,” De Vera explained.
Due to changes brought about by the pandemic, De Vera said that the country will also have to target government investments in public and private universities “accurately to help those that are a little bit behind to move faster.” This, he added, will also get the universities that are “doing very well” to help the others with lesser capacity.
To adapt to the changes in the future, De Vera said that CHED is currently harnessing experts and technical panels to develop Flexible Learning curriculum.
“We have been able to start limited face-to-face classes in medicine and allied health sciences and so far, it has worked,” De Vera said. “There is very minimal infection for the universities that have been allowed for limited face-to-face,” he added.
While the necessary adjustments are being implemented, De Vera underscored the need for an overhaul in the country’s higher education system. “You've got to change the whole regime, the whole approach in higher education,” he said.