Teaching is a noble profession and teachers are key partners to nation building. Teachers are prime movers of the educational wheel, while students are key participants in learning process. As a teacher, I have had the opportunity to interact with diverse student population and engage them in high-quality learning solutions using a blend of traditional methods and hi-tech platforms. I am committed to ensuring that my students achieve excellence and are inspired to pursue their dreams.
According to Janvic Mateo of Philippine Star on February 13, 2020, Thursday, the Department of Education (DepEd) has authorized schools’ heads and local education officials to suspend classes due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) if a case confirmed within their respective areas.
No one expected that we would be under this kind of health crisis-pandemic. The COVID-19 caused so much stress, chaos, and burden among us, and one of the sectors which is greatly affected is the Education sector. Even with the change brought about by the pandemic, the Department of Education continuously ensures that quality education is catered to students. But even with so much effort from the department, the teachers and the stakeholders, there are still students who find studying out of their priority as their economic status worsen.
In times of difficult situations in pandemic every teacher embraces technology for delivering quality education with improved administration. Educational technology empowers everyone to perform effectively and efficiently.
The spread of the Covid-19 pandemic to our world can give high impact to all individuals. Many countries are implementing emergency plans to slow down and limit the spread of the virus and prepare for possible longer-term disruption of school and university attendance. The COVID-19 crisis has forced education systems worldwide to find alternatives to face-to-face instruction. As a result, online teaching and learning have been used by teachers and students to survive in difficult situation in education.
The DepEd sector is implemented blended learning or remote learning for new style in educational system in the Philippines. Science teachers integrate technology to engage the students in learning the learning process. Nowadays, teaching and learning process are usually happened through online and modules. As a result, acquiring of knowledge is continuous for the students. Educational technology tools such as computers, hypermedia/ multimedia and online assessment can help students actively engage in the acquisition of scientific knowledge and development of the nature of science and inquiry. The students actively engage in their knowledge construction and improve their critical thinking and problem-solving skills through the use of technology in learning process.
Educational institutions preferred to close traditional or face to face teaching activities, including laboratories, and transferred activities to the online environment in order to prevent the spread of the virus. The use of educational technology which can greatly enhance a student’s understanding science concepts. The integration of technology in teaching is still challenging for most science teachers but they need to keep up with the new teaching style for their professional growth. Technology is transforming science education because students allow to learn collaboratively, interactive articulate their knowledge both visually and verbally. Technology can also help student process information, explore and make sense of their topics. For example, the virtual involve recreating lab experiments in online. Science teachers can use many modern technologies to great effect in the online classes. Teachers made an effort to carry out online learning successfully for their students by presenting power point, online discussion, as well learning evaluation. The efforts of science teachers to manage online is not easy job because science can’t be learned by reading and lecturing only, but also by hands-on activities.
By: Julius H. Casuga | Tomas Del Rosario College
