By Romel D. Bondoc – BNHS -JHS

2019, A year where an unknown virus emerged. The following year, 2020, when it spread all over the world. It spread from one country to another creating a pandemic. This was how the COVID-19 pandemic began. The pandemic greatly affected every aspect of our lives, both at work and at home. The pandemic brought about a myriad of challenges and struggles, impacting both our professional and personal lives. From our normal routine and interaction with other people to being isolated at our homes. It greatly affected our activities every day.The way we eat, socialize, talk, and even dress change because of it. There were many aspects of our lives that were changed because of this virus, and one of those many aspects was our education. Our education was greatly affected as we are used to the traditional settings where teachers and students go to school and interact with each other face-to-face in order to teach and learn. Then the pandemic happened, and we faced different challenges and obstacles. As educators, the pandemic taught us to try out new approaches to teaching our students. It taught us to make better use of digital technology and a variety of online tools and resources to create interactive and engaging learning experiences for our students. It taught us to have a structured yet flexible learning environment for our students who have their own unique challenges and needs.

The COVID-19 pandemic changed and introduced us to new ways of learning: modular learning and online learning. There are two ways of learning: modular learning and online learning. Modular learning is where  a student is given printed materials that include the lesson proper and activities that they need to answer to assess their learning. It is given every week and after a week they have to give it back to the teachers or leave it to designated places or persons. Online learning on the other hand, is solely based on technology. It can be called e-learning as it requires electronic devices. Materials are posted in the online classrooms and students and teachers will meet through video conferences to ensure that the students are learning something. These are the two ways of learning in the middle of the pandemic. These ways of learning are new to everyone resulting in struggles and hardships, both for teachers and students. However, as time goes by, everyone starts to adapt and get used to these new ways of learning.

As things slowly go back to normal including our education system; a new way of learning emerges. When students started going back to school for face-to-face classes, the way of learning got blended. Thus, the start of blended learning. Blended learning has become the way of learning and teaching after the pandemic to almost all schools, colleges, and institutions here in our country. Blended learning is where the students go to school face-to-face but still have online classes. Students have online classes where the materials or handouts are posted so they would have a copy of it. Some schools are still conducting online classes, especially if there are no classrooms available at their school. 

Just as there are two sides of the coin, blended learning also has its pros and cons. Let’s start with the positive side: students have an easy access to materials posted in online classrooms, easy and hassle free of passing activities, less paper usage, flexible, and provides personalized learning experiences, foster students engagement, and promotes the inclusion of technology in studying. In short, the integration of digital technology in teaching is an essential step toward providing students with a dynamic and enriched learning experience. Since the online classrooms are accessible to students, they can easily acquire the materials or handouts they need for studying. The passing of activities, assignments, and works are hassle free as they just need to post or add work in the assigned work, thus, less papers are needed that can help the environment. It is also flexible  as it doesn’t need to follow the office hours. Teachers can post anytime and students can pass work at night. Since technology is becoming bigger and wider everyday; the inclusion of it improves the education system of our country. Furthermore, it enhances the students and educators capacity in using technology. However, it has its downside. One of the main problems is technology. Technology is a big hindrance as much as it is a big help. It becomes a hindrance as not all students have access to it. Also, not all students have the privilege to have devices and access to the internet.

But, all these hindrances can be overcome. One way of overcoming this obstacle is when teachers collaborate with students and their family to ease the difficulty of this new way of learning. Having to experience this kind of set-up gives both good and bad times for both teachers and students. However, just as the pandemic gives us new ways of living, blended learning also gives  new ways of learning. This new way of learning still needs a lot of improvement. Yes, it is already okay and good but it still lacks a lot of things. And as the time goes by, it will evolve. Blended learning is just the beginning. By adopting this new way of learning, we aim to empower students with 21st-century skills, improve their understanding of the subject matters, and ensure equitable access to quality education.