Online Teaching

Catherine Rivera

The declaration of the quarantine in Metro Manila last March 15, 2020, caused the mandatory suspension of classes across the region. Despite being in the middle of a semester, schools had no choice but to follow the order of President Duterte because the health of the students, teachers and other school personnel is at high risk due to the COVID-19 outbreaks.

Online classes were held as an alternative learning platform by Letran Manila to continue with the school year. At the same time, to cope with the safety precautions against the pandemic.

Alternative assessments were given to the students since the suspension of classes in Letran Manila began in the middle of the final examination for the 3rd quarter. Discussions were also continued and were supported by online applications such as Google (Classroom, Meet, and Hangouts), Schoology, and GoToMeeting. Quizzes and activities were not taken out of the picture.

The Senior High School Student Council asked the students for feedback regarding their online class experiences. Some mentioned that it’s a good alternative and is an effective strategy of learning while others say that different factors, such as internet connection, availability of devices, etc. negatively affects their experience.

On March 20, 2020, a memorandum from the Vice President for Academic Affairs, Assoc. Prof. Cristina Cabral, PhD, regarding the implementation of online classes was posted online. This clarifies that despite hindrances online classes will push through. This caused different comments and reactions from people who are affected by the said memorandum. The #SuspendOnlineClassesLetran took place in Twitter’s Trending list.

As the quarantine period extended, online classes were extended as well. Are online classes really effective? Does it promote learning or just complying?