Digital Learning Resources: The E-Inclusive Educational Approach

ICT tools are very helpful to me as an educator as they address gaps and needs in the teaching and learning process. These digital resources help in achieving the 21st-century learning goals of creating active learners that can actively construct knowledge beneficial to society. Educators of today’s generation should adapt to this technological advancement to address the varied learners and make education e-inclusive.

Before the pandemic, I utilize Phet interactive simulations to expose learners to these adaptive digital instructional materials. This allows students to investigate variables that are otherwise difficult to contain and variables that are difficult to hold constant. I even conducted action research about the effectiveness of improving students’ conceptual understanding of impulse and momentum -one of the least learned competencies in grade 9 science. Based on the results, the use of Phet interactive simulation indeed improves students’ conceptual understanding. Although this application is free, still we also need to look at the cost and the training students and teacher needs to maximize the use of this application. This digital resource needs a lot of maintenance and technical support as it requires an internet connection.

At the time of the pandemic, I learned to use offline interactive electronic modules and video lessons. I have seen that there are gaps that we need to address as teachers in terms of students’ motivation towards the use of printed learning modules, student interaction, and most importantly, the veracity of the assessment results. This leads me in finding alternative learning resources that could spike up students’ motivation, provide student-teacher interaction and elicit valid assessment results. As teachers, we should always maximize the advantages and potentials of digital learning resources that could improve the teaching and learning process. This way we move beyond the educational and digital divide and lean on toward E-inclusive education.

I think that our educational system should change to be at par with the economic changes and needs. Thinking of further improving our teaching strategies should be one of the focuses to address the differences among our learners. With technological advancement and the inevitable use of ICT in our everyday activities, the teaching and learning process should be aligned according to what drives our economy. The use of digital learning resources could be of great help in making our varied learners active and capable of constructing knowledge through ICT. When teachers promote the use of ICT in classroom instruction, he/she provides opportunities for students to be technologically and conceptually aware.

To maximize the use of digital resources teachers should evaluate materials according to the SECTIONS model of Bates. Selecting the appropriate materials to be used in the instruction is of great importance as we hope to bring inclusive and efficient materials for our students. Also, We need to consider the guidelines in choosing the most significant digital learning resources. Low bandwidth and high immediacy learning materials are ideal to use in our instruction as it provides interaction with little data usage. However, thorough research and evaluation are the foundation of effective and efficient digital learning resources that are technologically appropriate.