PLDT and Smart are boosting distance learning in the new school year with innovative programs that have stood the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. The Department of Education has recently released the calendar for schoolyear 2021-2022. Face-to-face classes, whether partial or in full scale, remain prohibited.
With more than a year under varying degrees of quarantine, schools have turned to blended learning to continue education. PLDT and Smart have been supporting the education sector with initiatives that are responsive to the new normal of learning.
“Students will once again welcome another schoolyear, albeit a very different one from what they were used to before the pandemic. PLDT and Smart continue to roll out solutions that empower the education sector in the continuing COVID-19 saga, making sure that no learner is left behind,” said Catherine Yap-Yang, First Vice President and Group Head of Corporate Communications of PLDT and Smart.
Crisis-resilient CVIF-Dynamic Learning Program
Accredited by the Department of Education as a supplementary resource for its blended learning strategy, the Central Visayan Institute and Foundation-Dynamic Learning Program (CVIF-DLP) works whether the school adopts printed modules, or online learning, or radio and television to teach students. Designed to encourage students to become independent learners through the self-directed Learning Activity Sheets (LAS), CVIF-DLP improves learner outcomes even with little to no teacher and parent intervention.
The CVIF-Dynamic Learning Program (CVIF-DLP) has proven its mettle in the time of the pandemic. Pushed to the brink of closure, Echelon Development School in Altavas, Aklan was saved by the program.
“It helped us press on even in the direst of circumstances,” said Principal Olivia Sabacan-Payba. “We could not afford to offer online classes, and we weren’t prepared for modular learning with only four teachers left,” she added.
Educational institutions have been drawn to the learning method in the past year. The flexible and inclusive teaching strategy has seen a 927% jump among schools that have adopted the program during the public health crisis. From 73 schools that initially implemented CVIF-DLP in school year 2019-2020, the number has grown to almost 750 formal and informal schools and learning communities by the end of school year 2020-2021. To support the shift to distance learning, in Q2 Smart trained 1,002 teachers and made available 1,874 modules downloadable at the DepEd Commons.
Developed by renowned Filipino Theoretical Physicists and Ramon Magsaysay Awardees for Education Dr. Christopher Bernido and Dr. Ma. Victoria Carpio-Bernido, the program is a proven teaching method that has been supported by Smart, PLDT, and the PLDT-Smart Foundation since 2010.
Going the distance with School-in-a-Bag
PLDT and Smart also go the distance to boost learning in far-flung communities across the country. Smart has deployed the School-in-a-Bag (SIAB) to ensure that children in hard-to-reach areas have the opportunity to learn. SIAB is a portable digital classroom that contains a laptop for the teacher, Smart Bro LTE pocket WiFi to download additional learning materials, and tablets preloaded with multimedia content and apps based on the mother tongue developed by Smart and its partners.
“I am so happy that the City Central District of Cagayan de Oro has received a School-in-a-Bag. The digital tools provided by Smart will make learning easier and more effective,” said Sheryll Ontong, an ALS Mobile Teacher in the city.
By the second half of 2021, Smart and its partners have deployed close to 500 SIABs all over the country. More than 4,000 teachers have been trained and almost 90,000 students have been reached by the program to date.
Infoteach boosts digital literacy for high school students and teachers
Infoteach Outreach Program is PLDT’s flagship digital literacy initiative conducted in partnership with the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU). It enables high school students and teachers from public schools nationwide to carry on at home gaining new knowledge from experts.
“The Infoteach collaboration between PLDT and UPOU opens limitless possibilities towards creating impact on the education sector and continuously addresses the demand and challenges of the 21st century teaching and learning in the new normal,” said Roxas City Assistant Schools Division Superintendent Feliciano C. Buenafe.
This year, over 19,800 learners, mostly Grades 7-12, participated in the 10 online sessions held March 5 to May 21. The following topics were taken up in the sessions: Digital Productivity Tools; Online Collaboration Tools; 21st Century Competencies; Effective Communication Skills; Digital Literacy; Responsible Use of Social Media; Global Digital Citizenship; Cyber Security; Introduction to Sustainable Development Goals; and Lifelong Learning. These sessions were recorded and are made available for viewing in the UPOU Facebook page.
In 2020, PLDT and UPOU held the first-ever Infoteach webinar series before schools opened in October which covered over 61,000 registered participants, to continue empowering teachers, students, and the whole ecosystem of the teaching and learning process: parents, and school administrative staff and their communities. By providing them with digital capabilities, the webinar series helped the participants smoothly transition to the blended learning setup.
Digital inclusion of IP communities
PLDT together with Philippine Eagle Foundation worked with Barangays Ganatan, Salasang and Tumanding in Arakan, North Cotabato to run capacity-building sessions to ensure the digital inclusion of upland women and girls of the indigenous peoples (IP) community in the province.
The sessions provided access to information and on-site digital webinars to more than 90 women and girls in the three upland communities and helped build the capacity of 60 women parents as volunteer teachers facilitating home-based modular learning of 150 kids during the pandemic. The three barangays in Arakan were given access to digital technology with PLDT providing four desktop computers to each barangay as well as lessons on basic computer literacy.
During the run of some webinars, the communities were able to gain additional learnings on financial literacy and management, forest stewardship, gender and development, social media-based advocacy building, youth leadership, among others.
Boosting blended learning
PLDT has also donated more than 40 personal computers (PC) to various DepEd division offices, public schools, barangays and other communities to help them navigate the new normal of education.
With the education sector still reeling from the disruptions of the coronavirus pandemic, PLDT and Smart have been expanding their infrastructure to support the communication needs of educators and learners. These services are backed by PLDT’s most extensive fiber infrastructure, at more than 524,000 kilometers. This also supports Smart's mobile networks, which now cover 96% of the population from Batanes to Tawi-Tawi. Smart's 5G network–the country's first, fastest and widest, now has more than 4,000 sites across the Philippines.
PLDT and Smart create and support various educational initiatives, in line with the commitment to help the nation achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals #4: Quality Education.
For more info about CVIF-DLP, follow Dynamic Learning Program and Smart Communities on Facebook, visit www.dlp.ph, or send an email to learnsmart@smart.com.ph.
To know more about School-in-a-Bag, send your queries to learnsmart@smart.com.ph
Learn more about Infoteach by sending an email to kpdiazderivera@pldt.com.ph.##