Perlita V.

Sanchez
Grade 9 - Science

The past two months of online blended learning have been difficult for both the students and
teachers. There were a lot of challenges that we both have to face and overcome for learning to
be successful during a pandemic. In this paper I will breakdown the problems that I encountered
in 2 categories namely (1) Technical - problems that are caused by technological malfunctions.
(2) Educational - problems related to lessons, modules, online synchronous classes, teaching
process and distribution of assignments. I will also discuss the actions done to solve these
existing problems.

Technical problems happen frequently especially for the older teachers like me who are just still
new to all these technological processes starting from the laptop/computer navigation, setting
up and updating the online class and classroom, creating presentations, using and sharing
activities from 3rd party educational apps up to even what seems to be basic processes such as
encoding, dragging the mouse and clicking.

On top of the list of technical problems is the slow internet connection of both the student and
the teacher causing the frequent disconnection with google meet. This issue is partially solved
by using LAN connection through the use of ethernet cable that directly connects the WIFI
modem and the laptop. Difficulty of troubleshooting online issues faced by students using the
online classroom such us, downloading and submitting certain types of documents. A lot of
technical problems stem from the lack of knowledge in the aforementioned technological
processes stated above personally I am doing my best to learn these processes however
learning all of this takes time. This issue is somehow solved through the help of family members
who are knowledgeable in this sorts of topic.

Based on the 2 month experience the teachers hands are full just by attending to these
technical aspects of online blended learning it even takes us the whole day just to address all
the online processes and that doesn’t even include checking and grading the work of the
students yet which will be discussed in the following paragraph.

This is everyone’s first time in online blended learning so it's just normal that teachers and
students are both grappling with the situation. The delay and change in distribution of the
printed modules affected the schedule of the online synchronous classes. Although some of the
students may have the privilege to have a stable internet connection, a gadget, and the capacity
to be able to print uploaded activities many don’t have and still rely on printed copies to be able
to understand the lessons. The 30 min synchronous class once a week is only enough to cover
2 lessons in 10 - 15 slides. Due to poor and expensive internet connection some may not even
follow through the classes and mostly rely on printed modules. This may be the reason why
most of the students no longer sustain their attendance in synchronous classes. All available
online resources are uploaded per topic in google classroom for the students to use although it
is effective to those who can afford internet connection it is still a challenge for those who can't.
As teachers we make sure that students can still absorb and grasp all essential knowledge
discussed. The original distribution of lessons is 1 module per week. Given that the whole set of
modules should be discussed in the whole stretch of 1st grading. One module consists of 5-6
lessons with 2-3 activities each which is 15 - 18 activities each week multiplied by the number of
subjects they are currently taking. One 30 minute synchronous class per week won’t suffice to
cover even the simplest version of the 6 lessons. This is why the printed module is an important
resource for the students.

Submission of activity is important but checking and returning it to the students is imperative to
the students learning as they are learning by themselves, knowing their mistakes is crucial to
their learning process. Checking 18 activities multiplied by the number of students you have in
all your classes per week is very much a handful. Using automated grading online activities is
very much helpful to lessen the burden of checking. So as giving reasonable deadlines for the
activities.

Balancing the amount of activity to be given to the students per day we only reached lesson 3 of
6 for the first quarter. I will base the distribution of lessons and activities on the performance of
the students this grading period.

Students' interest and active participation in discussion is stimulated by using interactive 3rd
party learning apps such as Quizziz and Padlet; the presentations are also dynamic and visually
appealing.

The clarity of communication is important since we are not meeting face to face with the
students so the use of english and filipino language in all discussions are used and encouraged.
This is to make sure that the student can fully understand what is being taught and they can
also fully express themselves when communicating and asking questions.

In conclusion, the 2 months were us still testing the waters. Open communication and mutual
understanding both on the part of the teachers, students and school administrators will definitely
help in overcoming these drawbacks. Selecting and implementing best practices from teachers
will also make development in this online blended learning journey. Little by little we can slowly
but surely create a smooth process that will be both beneficial to the students' learning
experience.