KAS 1/HIST 1 SYNTHESIS

The current public health crisis has forced educational institutions to shift from the traditional in-person class set-up to a remote learning mode that privileges virtual platforms and online processes. This continues to spur a multitude of challenges and constraints that have affected the way we teach and how we facilitate the learning process for our students. This is best exemplified by faculty members who handle General Education (GE) courses in this time of crisis. This sets the context and rationale for the series of GE conversations by the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs (OVPAA) designed to serve as a platform for GE Faculty to share among themselves their experiences and interventions in the context of remote learning.

In line with this, the KAS 1/Hist 1 Panel composed of five panelists from four constituent universities (Baguio, Cebu, Diliman, and Los Banos) had its conversation on May 6, 2021, from 8:30-10:00 am. The first meeting of the panel was held on April 19, 2021, aimed to discuss the objectives and desired outcomes of the conversation, and finalized the distribution of work assignments according to the conversation’s discussion points. Two days after, a survey form prepared by the panel was cascaded to KAS 1/Hist 1 faculty members across the constituent universities of the UP System to map out their experiences and integrate them as part of the panel’s conversation. The last meeting was facilitated on April 26, 2021, to tackle the conversation’s talking points and submitted survey responses.

Relevance of KAS 1 in the UP GE Program 

By and large, KAS 1/Hist 1 teachers have accepted the challenge to shift to remote learning amid the multiple constraints that characterize this mode of learning. They have embraced the value of course packs and introduced synchronous and asynchronous interventions customized in the teaching of Philippine history. They have advanced the principles of the GE Program through the following:   

(1) encourage students to be grounded with key primary sources and secondary works to hasten critical and creative thinking with emphasis:

(2) curate the content of activities and types of assessment to involve active learning and enable interaction among students through a discussion forum or learning through teamwork; and

(3) rationalize the topics and readings of the course and integrate them to current trends and issues in local, regional, national, and global contexts.

Instruction Innovations

To facilitate the new mode of learning, KAS 1/Hist 1 teachers have developed course packs as a key guide for students to hasten learning processes both online and offline. For all campuses, the systemwide syllabus of KAS 1 has served as a starting point in crafting the course pack. Committees were constituted at the department level in different constituent universities such as Baguio, Diliman, and Los Banos to prepare course packs. On the other hand, faculty members in UP Cebu were tapped to develop their course packs individually. Relevant webinars on remote learning facilitated by the UP Open University and the different constituent universities were of great help to the faculty members.

A key component of a course pack is a comprehensive and relevant list of learning resources that may include readings, multimedia resources, and other content resources to be utilized in synchronous and asynchronous sessions of the class. This is daunting for several faculty members due to several reasons.  

Below is a list of challenges relevant to course pack preparation, selection of assessment tools, and classroom management:

(1) crafting of learning outcomes in consideration of the remote learning format;

(2) sufficiency of requirements (how many is enough?);

(3) preparation of rubrics in grading student work;

(4) difficulties in preparing materials (access to library resources, digitization constraints, and copyright issues);

(5) reluctance of some faculty in using new assessment tools (preference, technical concerns);

(6) concerns pertinent to the utilization of trust-based assessment tools;

(7) readiness of faculty to implement assessment tools; 

(8) flexibility in facilitating the learning process; and

(9) mental health and well-being concerns of students alike causing absenteeism and poor performance in class; 

(10) communication constraints due to limited internet connection and related concerns;

(11) logistical problems and insufficient resou rces to facilitate more responsive and effective classroom management.

Opportunities and Challenges

Below is a list of opportunities and challenges in the context of remote learning:

Challenges

(1)  poor connectivity has led to poor attendance in synchronous classes – more frequently encountered from the student’s side;

(2)  the learning curve for different online learning tools poses a challenge for online learning on the teacher’s side;

(3)  should you go asynchronous, another challenge the faculty faces is the time needed to prepare for recorded lectures, not to mention the need to conceptualize interactive learning aids;

(4)  lack of true student-teacher interaction;

(5)  relative unfamiliarity with the LMS of choice;

Opportunities (Administrative Support)

(1)   text blasts to update students of updated LMS submission/pages;

(2)  load distribution – the need for more faculty members to handle teaching load;

(3)  internet subsidy for students/gadget support for faculty members;

(4)  invite lecturers from different CUs to discuss specific modules for greater exposure to other teachers/campuses;

(5)  availability of online resources-stronger institutional assistance in securing copyrighted materials; and

(6)  technological upgrading- :cameras for online learning, better microfilms (digitization) for primary sources found in our respective libraries.

Opportunities (Faculty Paradigm Shift)

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(1)  struggle to adjust to asynchronous learning: some are still compelled to just translate the face-to-face teaching style into a synchronous format; and

(2)  the challenge of balancing expectations and learnings from students – threading compassion with what is essential to learn

Prepared by Prof. Neil Martial R. Santillan