Educational Local Knowledge Ecosystem

It takes a village to educate a child, and the child’s holistic journey to learning begins at home. I believe most challenges that both teachers and learners are experiencing right now are within the context of their microsystem. If the parents are unable to provide the necessities for their children to participate in blended learning like internet connectivity and gadgets for online classes, that is where the dilemma begins. We cannot blame the parents since some of them lost their job due to this pandemic. They may opt to choose the purely offline or modular modality, but a common predicament of this scenario is that learners may not be able to fully understand and achieve the content and performance standards as prescribed by MELCs.  

I do hope DepEd would explore the possibility of tapping other government agencies and private institutions as well to support us in these pressing concerns. I know that our government is doing its very best, moving heaven and earth just to deliver still quality education amidst pandemic, but I believe we should also start with some bold actions like investing to virtual learning infrastructures, amenities, and gadgets (with one is to one ratio), so that we can combat this digital divide that is very evident here in our country. 

Sharing here my output in Flex2Educate course about creating a poster showing my learners local knowledge ecosystem:

Homework: To Give or Not to Give?

 – that  is the question! 

I am honestly not a fan of giving homework even prior to pandemic. I would just see to it that all learning tasks are accomplished within our class time. Perhaps, it’s because most of the time there is a low turn-in of accomplished homework tasks, which will just disappoint me a lot. 

After, reading the articles assigned to us in our Flex2Educate course, I had so many realizations about giving homework! First, perhaps the low turn-in of assignments was caused by giving a boring, unengaging, and repetitive instructions for tasks that just forced them to accomplish those for scores. I could have prepared more relevant tasks that have definite purpose, doable, appropriate for their learning style and cognitive level, and with visual aesthetics appeal.  

Illustration by Marlon L. Lalaguna, 2020

We must get down to the nitty gritty of the nature and aspects of the homework we would like to give to our learners. Remember, that we are in this situation wherein we should look everything in different angles. Ask ourselves, if the task we will give them will hone the enduring learning competencies they really need to acquire for your subject? Is it really worthy of their time away from their family and on to the screen again? If this homework will just add “breadth” and not “depth” in their understanding about the most essential learning competencies, just don’t give it! Let the learners just enjoy their free time with their family and other hobbies they could work on instead while staying at home. 

Flex2Educate

I am so excited to share with you this another journey I am about to embark on to grow professionally - FLEX2EDUCATE. 

This course is a 15-day intensive course that provides trainees the opportunity to dive into different flexible learning modalities (this is where it gets its course name from) and create highly interactive and well-designed learning packages.

I am looking forward to learn a lot about how to thrive in this teaching profession amidst the challenges brought by COVID-19 pandemic. Sir Joel Santos, Thames International President, gave a valuable insight during his welcome message. He said that we should take advantage of this crisis to upgrade the quality of our education and provide great learning experiences for our dear learners. 

I hope there will be some workshops on how to create hybrid educational materials that can be delivered in different learning modalities. 

The FUTURE of education that we, educational technologists, usually talked about three or five years ago is here NOW! #EmbracingHybrid Education

New Reading Companion

Just got my new prescription reading glasses from Executive Optical - SM Valenzuela Branch!

As Andrea Camilleri, an Italian writer, once said:

Wearing glasses for reading meant surrendering to old age without the least bit of a fight. 

The writer just stated a fact! Haha 😁 

Nowadays, I usually read in e-book format and I am happy that my new pair of glasses are with computer eye-strain reduction and anti-radiation coating! 🤓

Have a blessed Sunday everyone!

#LeisureReadingTime

Digital Illustration and My Favorite Stranger Things Characters

I just wanna share some of my recent digital illustrations here.😊 Since our specialization is TLE-ICT (Illustration), I felt compelled to showcase a sample demonstration for digital illustration. So here it goes...

For vectorizing Eleven, I used Adobe Photoshop as my digital illustration tool. Unfortunately, some of my learners do not have laptop or computer with Photoshop application, so I just challenged them to use their mobile illustration apps like Ibis Paint Tool, MediBang, or Autodesk Sketchbook and practice the digital tracing process through the application's painting tools. As for their performance task, I asked them to vectorize or trace their own profile pictures. Upon seeing their outputs, I could say that they did enjoy this lesson a lot. I'll try to post some of the best here, with  their permission of course.

Here is my vectorized version of Eleven from Stranger Things:

I also recorded my drawing process:

Also, with the use of Autodesk SketchBook app, I also tried to draw a Chibi version of Will Byers. I did show this as sample output for my students and not surprisingly some of them even came up with  better outputs than mine😀, which actually made me very happy! 

My 10:00 PM Thoughts on Distance Learning

Never had I imagined that our education would drastically shift from face-to-face into distance and virtual learning because of this COVID-19 pandemic. Yes, in the past, I was quite envisioning that we would really transitioning into a technology-mediated teaching and learning scenarios, but not in this hastily and very frustrating way. The digital divide in our country is so real that we cannot totally rely on virtual distance learning alone, knowing that many learners do not have online access. It is not just really equitable. Good thing is that the Department of Education offered different modalities so that learners with totally no online access can somehow continue their learning with the help of Self-Learning Modules (SLMs). But is it fair, knowing that there are learners who have 24/7 online access and all the gadgets and technology tools at their disposal to participate in online classes and constantly communicate with their teachers? I just feel sad for these learners who were deprived of these technology tools because of poverty. In our city (at Valenzuela), we are fortunate to have Rex Gatchalian, as our visionary and vibrant city mayor, who found a way to lend distance learning tablets for all the Valenzuelano learners, who do not have gadgets to watch livestreaming, video lessons, and participate in follow-up sessions. The tablet they borrowed even has a free SIM card with free internet load. 

This distance and virtual learning modalities we are all in right now would somehow continue until everyone is vaccinated against the virus. We can just all hope and pray that we will surpass this trying time early this year, knowing the vaccines are soon to be rolled out next month. Meanwhile, what we can do is just to still give our very best as their virtual and distance learning teacher, extend more and more patience for those who cannot comply with our prescribed tasks and outputs, and practice the art and science of time management, because in this work-from-home setup, we all need to know when to start and when to stop working. Make time for your self-care, because your mental health also matters.

This was during our prerecording session for DepEd NCR's Video Lesson Project

 

Happy New Year! 🥂🎆

I never thought I could ever visit this blog again! At first, I thought that working from home, because of this COVID-19 pandemic, could give me time to publish more often in this blog of mine but I was tremendously wrong. Working from home as an online teacher is way more demanding compare to the face-to-face classes. I can no longer draw the line between my personal and work time and space. I bet it will still take some time for me to really adjust in this new teaching and learning setup. Don’t get me wrong, I do not have problem at all when it comes to adapting with the technologies necessary for distance learning since I am an ICT for education enthusiast, but most of my stresses would come from the fact that most of my students cannot participate in our online classes and submit class requirements for so technology access and economic issues. (Insert a long and deep sigh here) I think we will just have to endure this until that time that everyone has been vaccinated and we have achieved herd immunity. 

Despite the lockdowns, I was able to still participate in many writeshops and workshops organized by the Department of Education: 

• SHS PRIMALS Writeshop on Entrepreneurship 
• Homeroom Guidance Program Module Writeshop 
• Career Guidance Program Policy Making Workshop 
• National Policy Guidelines for Educational Guidance and Counseling Services 
• SHS Writeshop on Empowerment Technologies 

I feel so blessed for the trust and confidence being given to me to participate in all these worthwhile endeavors. This new year, my only wish and fervent prayer is for all of us to have a better 2021. Stay safe and healthy always. God bless us all!  

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Just want to share here my happiness... 

😊 

Got my first gifts for myself, 2021 Starbucks Planner (Green Siren) and Organizer (Black Reserve):