INNOVATIVE LEARNING. Ateneo de Davao University declares its hybrid learning system will most likely stay even when the Covid-19 pandemic is over. On Monday, ADDU Assistant to the Academic Vice President Fr. Ogie Cabayao (left) and ADDU Executive Vice President Jeremy Eliab said they will offer a Hybrid Implementation Strategy using the FLEX modality of blended learning (HISFlex), hoping to influence other educational institutions to follow suit. (Screengrab)
DAVAO CITY – The Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU) wants to start a chain of innovation among educational institutions here, venturing into a hybrid learning system that incorporates both online and face-to-face learning.
Fr. Ogie Cabayao, ADDU assistant to the academic vice president, said Monday they will continue to offer this school year the Hybrid Implementation Strategy using the FLEX modality of blended learning (HISFlex).
"To ensure that we are future-proofing education in ADDU, we are introducing HISFlex in response to a world that is VUCA or filled with volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity," Cabayao said in a press briefer.
Even after the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, he said "there will still be a pandemic in the future" and that learning institutions must learn how to adapt proactively.
The VUCA world is a term used by ADDU president Fr. Joel Tabora about the challenges and realizations brought by the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Hopefully, this will be a benchmark model also. In introducing this model, (we hope) it will generate a chain of reaction among other educational institutions to develop an innovative response to the pandemic," Cabayao said.
To ensure efficiency in their HISFlex classes, the ADDU said courses whose content needs face-to-face learning, such as in engineering, the natural sciences, and physical education were redesigned.
"To this end, 50 of our classrooms and 29 of our laboratories have been retrofitted for HISFlex classes for SY 2022-23 at an appreciable cost of PHP50 million. In future years we will retrofit more classrooms in higher and basic education as our budget allows," ADDU said in a statement.
"When the pandemic is finally over, it is clear that hybrid-blended learning is compatible with students meeting and interacting face-to-face normally on campus,” it added. (PNA)
