Academic Honesty, is it possible?

Modular Distance Learning (MDL) is one of the types of learning delivery modalities that was implemented last year. The Department of Education allotted funds in crafting modules that will be used from Kindergarten up to Senior High School. When these modules were created, they were distributed all over the country so that learners still continue their studies at home.

However, a lot of people were confused because Deped instructed the regional and division offices to distribute the modules without detaching the answers key. If these modules will be answered by the students at home, they tend to scan the answers in the activities without even trying their best to answer them. In this case, what is the sense of including the answers key in the modules?

The department explained that these are Self-Learning Modules, meaning to say, students will assess themselves by checking their answers if they are correct by looking at the answers key. In this case, they will be able to realize and assert especially if their answers are incorrect. They will try to find out why they got incorrect answers in some of the activities. If parents really monitor their children in answering the activities in the modules, the students are hesitant to just look for the answers in the key to correction. In this case, there is no learning at all because of the dishonesty of the student. We cannot blame the parents if they don’t monitor well their students in answering the modules, this will just determine if the student is really honest. On the other hand, there are also some parents who let their children to rely on the answers key. That is a big mistake on their part.

There is academic honesty if the learner is doing his/her very best in answering the activities in the modules without looking in the answers key. Teachers can test the ability of the student by giving sets of activities which are not found in the modules. In this case, we can conclude if the students perform well.

Learning can be achieved if students practice academic honesty.

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The author is Teacher III at San Isidro Elementary School.