Education think tank bats for law institutionalizing online learning

ACADEMIC Year 2020-2021 is consequential for Philippine online education. Prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic, education institutions in the country have resorted to online teaching to mitigate the impact of the crisis.

Sensing an opportunity, the Educational Policy Research and Development Center (EPRDC) is pushing for legislation to institutionalize online or “blended” education, which, according to the Department of Education (DepEd), also involves the traditional face-to-face system and the use of radio and television.

EPRDC said repeated studies by the Philippine Normal University (PNU) have been proving that online education is “creating renewed zealousness for learning among young students across all levels.”

The education think tank said research over the last 10 years, as compiled by PNU’s Dr. Edna Luz Raymundo-Abulon, even indicate that technology, as part of other education strategies, may reverse the “brain drain” phenomenon.

“The brain drain phenomenon — where Filipino teachers choose rather to work abroad than teach here — is caused not only by the low wage at home but also the lack of opportunities for growth,” it said.

The PNU research, as reported to EPRDC, is a compilation of 89 published researches in recognized refereed scientific journals and 38 research projects authored by PNU teaching professionals and conducted from 2010 to 2020.

The study by Balagtas et al. (2018), for instance, showed the use of technology — via blended modality — in higher education has been proven to be effective, especially for teaching Learning Management Systems, software for administering educational or training programs.

The study of Sarmiento and Prudente, meanwhile, discovered that a practical function of MyOpenMath is it prevents copying of homework among students, ensuring authentic Math learning among pupils.

Another PNU study (Mancao and Morales, Abulon, Ermita & David) that focused on students’ perception showed that blended learning — integrating online lectures with classroom lectures — is an “efficient and effective” way to teach or learn college courses.

Online learning can also be fun and enjoyable as one class in a Teacher Education Institution (TEI) showed in another PNU research. A TEI is a school focused on training teachers.

“The use of low-cost tablets wherein online and offline courserelated activities were implemented to an intact class in a TEI was piloted for a semester. It found out that learning became enjoyable with the tablet because of the many useful apps that could optimize learning (Cacho et al., 2017).”

The use of smartphones, inclass and after-class, was also explored in a class of pre-service teachers (Cacho 2017).

“The study highlighted the functionalities of the apps in android phones commonly used by the students in relation to better access to relevant information. There is cohesiveness during collaborative learning activities.”

But while college students have positively welcomed the use of internet and gadgets, such as laptops and mobile phones, as part of education, the problem oftentimes is the lack of readiness in using these, the report said.

It said the presence of qualified teachers adept in software and hardware and the cost of gadgets and internet connection remain to be a major hindrance to online learning.

The 2015 study by Mancao et al. said, “Proper assistance must be given by universities in implementing new pedagogies. For instance, with blended learning, standard templates, class schedules and online rules must be developed.”

“In any new or innovative strategy to be implemented, it must first be determined that there are enough resources, instructors must be properly trained and students must be involved in ensuring that these pedagogies are properly applied.”

The EPRDC said the report noted that blended learning could also be a solution to addressing the problem of large classes across all levels in the Philippines. Ideal class size may just be 20 to 30 students per class, but it is not uncommon to find classes of 40 and above even in grade school.

Raymundo-Abulon reported, “Studies looked at approaches that can be used in order to address limitations like large classes. One such study examined the effective teaching strategies that can be applied in large classes (Reyes & Dumanhug, 2015). Another study looked at an innovative approach that can integrate technology in teaching — blended learning.”

One basic facility that has to be enhanced in higher learning is the online library, the report said.

PNU itself promotes a webbased research management system as part of developing a university research portal, which has provided a fast, systematic, and organized research management system that keeps record and tracks all research activities in the university.

The report also called for policies to ensure that the higher education curriculum is relevant to present needs of the society, quoting a 2019 study by Anito and Morales, which said, “Archaic ways which no longer serve their purpose must not be retained.”