Virtual Learning for Students: A Necessity in the New Normal Set-up
Rosanna C. Pitacio
The new normal set up in education has changed the way we deliver standards and competencies to our students and in the parlance of researching, many processes have also changed and now we are innovating to fit on the standards on research while following the standards set during this pandemi c.
Among the facets of education, research is one that myriad of students and teachers are fascinated yet frightened about. With the processes and undertakings that need to be done just to finish a single paper, many people tend to say ‘no’and pass the opportunity of transforming their lives through research-based schemes.
Despite this notion, research is considered as a platform of excellence in education. Hence, it crafts the best possible ways to mold the best future for students, for teachers, and for the entire academe. This means that through research, administrators and teachers can maximize and increase the potentials of students by providing data-based teaching methodologies that suit the current situation.
What is it for us in the new normal? Let us talk about the concepts, limitations, and opportunities in the new normal researching.
In the new normal, concepts in research are anchored towards the development of materials that suit blended and remote learning of students, the mastery of the concepts on how to boost teachers’morale and capacity despite the limitations of the non-face-to-face classes, and the new ways to deliver quality education aligning administrative protocols, virtual classroom practices, and students’skill and knowledge enhancement.
These concepts are interesting, however, many processes that researchers in the field of education have been implementing are impossible to be done during the new normal. Google forms, google sheets, Facebook pages, and google mails are now among the tools that researchers use to gather both qualitative and quantitative data.
The new normal has given us challenges and limitations in researching to enhance the quality of education and coupled with the dilemmas that we have are opportunities. First, it is more economical to virtually gather data. Researchers can have greater number of respondents without paying any cost in the production of instruments because of the online forms that can be used to ask for responses and second, topics are becoming more novel because the new normal set up in education is only at its infancy stage; hence, researchers who focus on the new normal concepts contribute meaningfully to the body of knowledge in education.
Research may be a taxing form of work for many but let us all realize that the essence of research is not to produce bulks of literatures and data printed on pieces of paper, but to enhance the quality of education by providing pertinent results to satisfy the ever-changing needs of students, teachers, administrators, and other stakeholders.
--oOo-The author is Teacher II at Benigno S. Aquino National High School
The transformation wasn't fast. The public health emergency in the countryprompted the switch online. Teachers had more time to schedule online and hybrid classes until now, and they faced many uncertainties: changing illness rates, unpredictable moral choices, and more.
If we look to what we are doing and how we are teaching it, rather than where and where we're teaching, the pandemic has uncovered options that we have not thought of yet.
We ought to adopt new methods of teaching. We need to avoid dreaming that we can be back in a conventional classroom and concentrate our attention on more powerful learning opportunities and instructional practices that are now before us.
We've improved a lot from going remote, but we could improve our teaching even more if we leaned towards interactive learning. The immersive solution is one that we can— and should— take back to the actual classroom when we all come back.
Most schools tended to group teachers and learners in classes and to follow changed school schedules, seeking to mimic conventional teacher and student experiences in online classrooms. Many teachers have become innovative with their remote teaching activities, and these teachers are to be praised. Their activities illustrate essential learning experiences. Such remote learning success stories show the strength of teachers' creativity and the role of ingenuity in responding to change.
Virtual learning is intended to enhance the student experience. It's not trying to recreate them. In interactive learning environments, learners can access opportunities and engage in ways that they would not or could not do in the actual classroom. Digital education provides options for today's remote learning settings and encourages new ways of thinking about teaching, learning, and conventional classrooms.
--oOo-The author is Teacher III at Lomboy Elementary School