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Education Continuity Plan Webinar

How is education possible during a global pandemic? These and other questions were addressed by the five-day Education Continuity Plan webinar series for teachers and school administrators. Big Pond Enterprises, in partnership with NUADU and Microsoft Philippines, organized the online sessions which ran from May 25-29 2020.

The webinar series gave a holistic view of the current state of our education system, looking beyond the mindset of “We can’t have face-to-face classes so we’ll make do with online classes.” Instead, resource persons from the education and technology sectors provided innovative solutions to help teachers reach their goals during the new normal.

Day 1: Philippine Education Landscape Under the New Normal by Mr. Paolo Balinas

Mr. Balinas emphasized that clear leadership and policies are crucial. He also highlighted how the pandemic has opened new ways of thinking education, with the widespread acceptance of using cloud technologies in teaching and filling educational gaps. Microsoft Teams can serve as the hub where such new learning modes can be facilitated.

Formulating Your School’s Education Continuity Plan by Ms. Cherylle Ramos

Ms. Ramos proposed that in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) world, we need a solution that also has VUCA (vision, understanding, clarity, agility). She stressed that in building an education continuity plan, one must factor in leadership and culture, the teachers and their professional learning, the students’ learning experiences, assessment and accountability, and the needed infrastructure.

Day 2: Pedagogical Framework in Choosing the Right Content and Tools by Ms. Emie Baylon

Ms. Baylon showed how teachers can establish a good workflow for remote learning. She identified the key elements, including setting up of a conducive learning environment while factoring in the realities of social distancing and other restrictions. She also emphasized that one’s purpose directs the use of technology, which can aid in creating meaningful learning environments and set the pace of learning.

Day 3:  Strategies on How to Use Microsoft 365 and Teams for Online Teaching by Mr. Raymond Africa

Mr. Africa showed how to use Microsoft 365 and Teams in conducting remote learning, a strategic, measured approach to ensure students’ meets are met. He also pointed out that NUADU is linked to Microsoft 365 and Teams, making it a seamless and effective learning management system.

Day 4:  Automate Assignments and Assessments to Validate Student Learning by Mr. Sylvester Escobia

Mr. Escobia gave a detailed presentation on how NUADU provides a full home-based learning solution, providing not only automated assessment but also a tool for the preparation and facilitation of lessons. He then said that the current learning continuity plan need not be a stop-gap solution, but could be implemented into regular educational instruction even after the pandemic.

Day 5: Upskill Through Microsoft Certification and Generate Additional School Income by Mr. Francis Hernandez

Mr. Hernandez presented how Microsoft certification provides skills needed by new employers, allowing students new opportunities for employment, for teachers to build new competencies and career growth, and for schools to gain value over other schools, offer these certification programs relevant to current technologies, and consequently more revenue.

Did you miss this webinar series? You can watch the recorded sessions for free on the Big Pond Facebook page.

Interested in using technology for you as part of your school’s education continuity plan? Contact us to schedule a demo today!

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How to Prepare for Online Learning at Home

Most schools are now shifting to home-based learning because of the quarantine measures implemented by the government. Is your family ready for this?

Here are the things you need to prepare to facilitate your child’s online learning and stay on track with the national curriculum.

5 Essentials for Successful Home-Based Learning

1. How much involvement is required of the parents/caregivers?

The level of involvement can vary greatly. Boxed curricula are usually designed for independent study, with the students having access to answer keys so they can grade their own work. Some online learning portals have automated grading and feedback of quizzes and activities.

Children in the middle grades or older can usually be left to study on their own for longer periods. Just be ready to set out the materials, guide them with their activities, and answer any questions they may have. Note that preschool and early elementary students require more supervision and hands-on involvement.

2. Does your child have a dedicated study area?

Does your child have a personal study area, with a desk or table he or she can work on? Ideally, each child should have his or her personal study desk in a well-lighted area.

However, space could be limited in some households, so siblings have to share study areas. If this is the case, you should set a schedule that gives each child a certain time of day to use the study area.

Also, does your child need to study in a multi-use area? Space can be so limited that children have to use a common family area like the dining table or the living room for lessons. If so, schedule who should use the area at certain times, including the rest of the family for those family times like dinner.

3. Do you have school supplies at home?

Make a list of the supplies your children will need, based on the school’s program for this term. Must-haves include books, writing implements, art materials, and paper. If budget is an issue, siblings can share or reuse materials.

If you live in a small space, school bags are the easiest way to store supplies. Bags are portable, so students can carry everything they need wherever they do their school work. This is especially useful if the study area is shared or multi-use.

Do you have plenty of space at home? Consider investing in shelves. Not only do they provide more storage area, shelves are also nicer to look at.

4. What equipment or technology will they need?

Home-based learning programs usually have an online component, so each child should also have a dedicated computer, laptop, or other device for online lessons. But if they are using, say, a shared computer, create a user profile for each child so that they each can save their work safely without affecting the others’ works.

Which online connection is best for them: DSL, broadband, or mobile data? You also have to factor that you might need the internet bandwidth for your own work if you are working from home. For the best internet providers, ask your neighbors for recommendations.

5. How proficient is your family with technology?

Remember that you will have to learn how to use the apps and the devices that the school requires before the learning sessions begin. If you need help in this area, look up online tutorials or contact the school for help on how to use the apps and devices.

After learning how to use the tech, you will need to teach your children how to use them, if they don’t already know. After teaching them how to use them, give them opportunities to practice so they will be able to concentrate more on the lessons than on operating the app and device correctly.

Education Continuity Plan Webinar

How can you implement the learning continuity plan with the use of technology? Find out more by attending the free Education Continuity Plan Webinar Series by NUADU, Microsoft Philippines, and Big Pond.

This 5-day online series will run from 25 May– 29 May on the Microsoft Teams platform. Learn from Edutech practitioners and innovators about how your school can continue the learning experience beyond the four walls of the classroom.

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News

What You Need to Know About the DepEd Learning Continuity Plan

To get the education of the country’s students back on track, the Department of Education (DepEd) presented its Basic Education Learning Continuity Plan (BE-LCP) to the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) last May 11, 2020. The IATF approved the BE-LCP, as well as the proposal to “open” schools on August 24, 2020.

A learning continuity plan seeks to ensure that students’ learning progresses even amidst disasters such as natural calamities, storms, fires, and pandemics. This plan overcomes obstacles created by the disasters through innovative means of teaching and learning, keeping students on track with their courses. With today’s COVID-19 pandemic, the main obstacle that has to be overcome is the need for social distancing, making face-to-face interaction impossible. Therefore, any learning continuity plan to be implemented today has to account for this limitation.

Focus on the Essentials

Learning continuity should be based less on method and more on objectives — what do we want our students to learn and accomplish? From there, we can determine the methods we will employ for the four aspects of our continuity plan:

  • Communications – Ways of providing direct teaching, asking and answering questions, discussing the lesson, and communicating instructions about activities and other matters about the course
  • Materials – Includes the content lessons are based on, references, and materials needed for learning activities
  • Learning activities and assignments – Activities that would facilitate learning that could include role-playing, case studies, group discussions and presentations, and problem-solving
  • Assessments – Means of measuring the progress of the students’ learning
Four aspects of the Learning Continuity Plan are: Communication, Materials, Learning Activities, and Assessment

Given our current situation, all four aspects of learning continuity should be geared towards distance learning to keep our students safe by maintaining social distance.

Innovative Use of Technology

If we are to craft our learning continuity plan towards distance learning, we will need to innovate our methods and use current technologies. Some teachers have already used email as a means for submitting papers so that students can submit without needing to physically go to the teacher’s office. But with quarantine measures in place, we have to go further than that.

Collaborative platforms like MS Teams provide a venue for virtual classes. Here, you can give direct instruction, facilitate discussions, and conduct activities complete with presentation slides.

On top of that, you can also employ educational apps like NUADU where you can assess your students’ progress and get recommended activities based on that assessment. What’s more, the platform also gives you access to interactive content that you can use in teaching your course.

Continuing Beyond the Calamity

Your learning continuity plan need not be a stop-gap solution for a crisis. The innovations you introduce could be implemented into your regular course instruction even after the calamity. Doing so opens new ways of learning and pursuing the course for you and your students. What’s more, the continuity plan ensures that learning continues even if major disasters occur.

Education Continuity Plan Webinar

How can you implement the learning continuity plan with the use of technology? Find out more by attending the free Education Continuity Plan Webinar Series by NUADU, Microsoft Philippines, and Big Pond run from 25 May – 29 May. Learn from Edutech practitioners and innovators about how your school can continue the learning experience beyond the four walls of the classroom.

Did you miss this webinar series? You can watch the recorded sessions for free on the Big Pond Facebook page.

Interested in using technology for you as part of your school’s education continuity plan? Contact us to schedule a demo today!