VIRTUAL LEARNING. Dr. Shirley Agrupis, president of Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU), announces in a media forum on Monday (May 4, 2020) the start of classes until June 3 through a virtual learning environment. She said under the new normal, students need not be physically present in school to gain knowledge or competencies. (Photo by Leilanie G. Adriano)
LAOAG CITY – With a smart phone on hand, Airish Camille Oracion, a nursing student of Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) from San Nicolas town in Ilocos Norte, woke up early on Tuesday as she waited for her classmates and teacher to go online. She did not even bother to take a shower first as she is just at home, practicing distance learning.
Students of the state-funded learning institution welcomed the "new normal" on flexible learning, making use of all available online resources for a virtual education experience.
Through MMSU’s Virtual Learning Environment (MVLE), the teacher and students meet online with uploaded learning materials for them to read and react on. At times, teachers and students also participate in chat rooms or discussion boards using Facebook or Messenger applications. Depending on internet connectivity, video conferencing through Zoom and Google Meeting is also done to facilitate virtual learning.
Even before the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) crisis, MMSU had already developed MVLE, a virtual system to serve as a supplemental tool for teachers in conducting online lectures, examinations, and submission of requirements. It was first implemented and used in the university's Graduate School in 2013.
Welcoming the new normal, students of higher education like MMSU resumed their classes on Monday as the faculty members were required to use alternate modes of delivering learning to students and mitigate the effects of lengthy class suspensions.
“We are glad that the FB (Facebook) is really the easiest and most possible way to go online in our classes. We had just started with our MAEd (Master of Arts in Education) classes in Social Studies and 3/4 of our class have access to it,” said Noel Justin Mabuti, a student from Sarrat town.
In a media forum on Monday, MMSU president Shirley Agrupis announced that from May 4 to June 3, students of MMSU will take part in flexible learning which means they do not need to be physically present in school.
Except for highly technical subjects at the Graduate School and the College of Medicine which require the physical presence of students in laboratory experiments or field work, Agrupis said “flexible learning can occur in various ways such as both online and offline, synchronous and asynchronous—that teachers reach out to students and make sure students gain knowledge and develop competencies despite not physically coming to school”.
When asked if MMSU is ready for the new normal, Agrupis acknowledged there are some limitations which the university is trying to address as of the moment. “Setback is part of the new normal. If everybody is on board, then we shall rise above the challenge,” she said as she enjoined all stakeholders of MMSU to partner with the university in mitigating the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on learners and the entire community. (PNA)
