Future Of Online Education

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The Future of Online Education in the Philippines Rene D. Vencer Iloilo City

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Online Education: Recent Delivery System In the Philippines today, we have the traditional formal educational delivery system and the non-formal educational delivery system. The formal educational delivery system is the widely acceptable way of having an education. Very recently or in the past years, these nonformal method become very acceptable mostly in higher education and vocational schools. The most recent is the online education. By online education, we mean the use of computer, in both formal and non-formal educational delivery system more specifically it is about the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in education. The online education finds a very interesting place in non-formal education in its full scope and a very important tool in formal method of education. Strictly speaking, according to the Department of Education (DepEd), eighty-one percent (81%) of schools have no access to the Internet. The schools in Metro Manila, the Philippines’ capital, have the greatest access to the Internet, but the incidence of connectivity decreases as one goes northwards and southwards throughout the archipelago. The Philippines’ Department of Education (DepEd) has policies on the use of ICT. These are: 1. Technology must be studied first as a separate subject, then applied in other learning areas as a tool for learning how to learn. 2. The application of computer skills to the other learning areas is a curriculum policy that stems from the principle that teaching-learning must not be textbook-driven, and educational processes should take advantage of technological developments, including the application of ICT in teaching and learning, where appropriate. 3. An education modernization program will equip schools with facilities, equipment, materials and skills and introduce new learning and delivery systems necessary to capitalize on recent technological developments (Abcede, 2002).

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While this figure is mostly on secondary and elementary schools, it is improving in the recent years, as personally observed by this author as far as southern Mindanao and north as far as Ilocos. On the tertiary education and higher education, online learning is more pronounced but of course, this is still pacing slowly. There are in fact negligible online education in full scope. There are ICT’s in non-formal education in some schools and universities but as primary tool in completing an education. It is seen as becoming more and more important method as time goes on. Policy, training of teachers, teaching and learning, non-formal education, and measuring and monitoring change are the main elements by ICT or online education in any educational system. Progress in Online Education (or simply with ICT in Education) The 11th Congress ( WIRED! Philippines , July 1999 ), a total of 32 bills on telecommunications and IT-related bills were filed by the Senate and Congress, among them, Senator Sergio Osmeña III, Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Vicente Sotto III, Ramon Magsaysay Jr. and Loren Legarda-Leviste, and Congressman Leandro Verceles Jr. Of these bills, one is for the educational system. That is, HB 3104, An Act to Integrate an Information Technology Education Program into the Educational System. This is all about ICT but whether it is fruitful, nothing was heard about it. Certainly, there are laws and bills going on for the improvement of ICT in education, but whether it is really doing better, so far non is felt on it. The University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) is one with students that are working students and have decided to come back to school precisely because they can study without leaving their jobs and families behind. They are a different breed of learners, highly motivated, very professional, brimming with experience and new ideas, and with self discipline. Even if they already have established social lives, the UPOU still provides them opportunities to

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interact with other distance learners through the judicious and well-planned use of technologies such as the Internet, telecommunications systems (ICT), and other electronic communication devices, on top of some face-to-face interactions that are part of the over-all operations of the UPOU (Librero, 2005). The idea of online learning is very good example of online education. The future here is seen as more and more use of ICT in UPOU. CAP College is a private, non-stock and non-sectarian foundation, engaged in education, research and related activities. It utilizes the non-formal delivery systems of instruction to grant degrees for programs recognized by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). Year-round individualized tutorials are provided through telephone conferences, fax, postal service, online (synchronous and asynchronous via CAP College on the Web), and face-to-face. Group tutorial services are also offered, which may be availed free-of-charge by any student with active status for three hours every trimester. Accredited tutors provide scheduled group tutorials in CAP College Learning Centers nationwide ( http://www.cap.com.ph/college/product.htm). This too, is a good program but its status now is not clear. The future of online learning here is so much at the mercy of CAP mother company. Schools with Online Education in the Philippines In the elementary and secondary education, it is seen that more and more use of online education but the method will still be that of a curriculum provided by the formal methods of education. In some, it will just be an advance tool of learning while to some it will be an a additional learning. Teachers’ fear of the technology; school principals’ closed mindset to and non-appreciation of ICT in education; constraints of the annual Education Budget; maintenance of ICT resources and lack of technical staff; sustainability; and limited availability of education

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software and courseware (Abcede, 2002) were some of the problems that will have be overcome. In the college level and beyond, online education (or learning) is used as .major tool but seldom (as of this time) as a means to get the required degree. However, it will be more and more in open universities as the UPOU, a non-formal school like that of CAP (now not known if it survives). A very good and successful online education is that of Wisdom International School for Higher Education Studies (WISHES) is the first accredited institution of higher learning offering online undergraduate up to postgraduate studies in Islamic Studies major in Aqeedah, Islamic Personality Development and Da'wah According to the Qur'an and the Sunnah.(WISHES, 2003). It is available in Marawi City and Cagayan de Oro City. De La Salle’s (DLSU) Graduate School of Business (GSB) is currently offering an MBA Online Program, which features semi-real time and semi-online modes of teaching and learning. Based on the results of a pilot online class held last year, some students were found to have encountered difficulties adjusting to a virtual learning environment (Estopace, 2001). This has now progressed a lot. President of Philippine Women’s University (PWU) in 1993 inaugural address said that “ As we approach the 21st century, we cannot expect the traditional educational delivery system to remain the same. We cannot expect the students will merely trek to classrooms arranged along clusters on the main campus. We will have to innovate with various modes of educational delivery and diverse offerings. In fact, it is the classroom that will have to go to the students and not the students to go to the classrooms. It will enter the homes through distance education; it will take place in the offices and workplaces through various career development and continuing education programs; it will situate itself in our communities, through accredited experiential learning activities designed for community immersion. Short

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Term courses may no longer peripheral or taken in isolation from longer term courses either for certificate, diploma or degree programs…” (Benitez, 1993). PWU is one university who have gone a long way towards distance education and its online education. A full online set-up is one where face-to-face classroom interaction is not employed anymore and the instructional set-up and materials are all done through the web. Certainly, there are still very limited programs here in the Philippines, very few offering full online courses but it is here to stay.

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References: Abcede, M.. (2002). Highlights of the Integration of ICT in the Philippines' Educational System. Retrieved December 20, 2006 from http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=1165 Benitez, C. (1993). Inaugural Address. Retrieved December 21, 2006 from http://www.pwu-online.net/historical.html CAP College.

Retrieved December 20, 2006 from http://www.cap.com.ph/college/product.htm

Estopace, E. (2001). Inside An E-Classroom. Retrieved December 21, 2006 from http://wise.dlsu.edu.ph/press-releases/eclassroom.asp Librero, F. (2005). Distance Education in UP: Options and Directions. Retrieved December 20, 2006 from http://www.upou.org/books/options.htm WIRED! Philippines ( July 1999). Philippines in the Online Magazine about the Internet. also Retrieved December 20, 2006 from http://www.msc.edu.ph/wired/issue10.html WISHES. Wisdom International School for Higher Education Studies. Retrieved December 20, 2006 from http://www.wisdom.edu.ph/