- MITCH M. LIPA
As part of the additional supplement for distance learning modalities, the Department of Education is adopting the ETUlay as a free online tutorial platform for teachers and learners attending classes under the new normal.
ETUlay was introduced by the DepEd Educational Technology Unit under the Office of Information and Communication Technology Services.
It is an online tutorial platform for learners given by educators, who assumed the role of a facilitator, to provide students another level of learning experience.
Negros Occidental Provincial Schools Division Superintendent Marsette Sabbaluca said they are introducing ETUlay to teachers who are acting as facilitators on how to improve their teaching methods through online classes.
By watching tutorial classes through the ETUlay, the teachers are given techniques on how to be more effective in explaining clearly a particular subject matter.
For students, ETUlay shows videos that help them to fully understand their lessons, particularly basic school subjects like Science, Math and English.
For parents, the online tutorial will give them confidence to guide the studies of their children in the comfort of their homes, Sabbaluca said.
In terms of monitoring whether it is being adopted fully in all schools in the province, Sabbaluca said there are some facilitators or teachers that are still focusing on the modules design by DepEd, but because of the pandemic and natural calamities like floods, heavy rains, and lockdown of certain areas due to COVID-19, these factors hamper the teachers’ delivery of learning materials on time and cause delays in students’ compliance of their modules.
Online classes for public schools will end in the month of June 2021 as calendared.
But schools can extend classes as they wait for all students to finish answering their modules.
DepEd continues to innovate the different blended learning approaches to deliver quality education since they are not certain when the quarantine period will end, as teachers do not belong to the priority sector for vaccination.
DepEd is at No. 7 in the list of priority sectors for vaccine inoculation, Sabbaluca said. — MML
