Ateneo Perseveres Amid Pandemic: Introducing Contextualized Blended Learning

S O F I A C H A N, K A T R I N A P A N G I L I N A N, P E A R L P R A D O, and J A N A H T I B U D A N

The Ripples Publications

Ateneo de Iloilo - Santa Maria Catholic School (AdI-SMCS) took action to create new learning experiences for their students through a Contextualized Blended Learning (CBL) program to address barriers brought by the coronavirus pandemic for the school year 2020-2021.

“It’s a hybrid learning continuity plan for the school year, and also, that is in response to the challenge created by the new normal,” said Dr. Herman Lagon, AdI-SMCS Principal, about the CBL program during the webinar with Vibal Group held last June 12, 2020.

Spearheaded by Fr. Joseph Raymund Patrick Sanchez, SJ, the school president, the CBL Program was conceptualized by the Online Learning Committee, comprising of the following co-chairpersons: Dr, Herman Lagon, Dr. Michael Guevara, Dr. Matthew Lasap, Mrs. Ma. Llane Cordero and Mr. Aldren Camposagrado, and in consultation with other top-level and mid-level administrators.

Through a series of surveys, meetings, as well as consultations with experts and partner schools, the school crafted the said program to be flexible, inclusive, and comprehensive.

Why CBL and its variations?

The concept of the CBL was developed after conducting the first survey to students, teachers, and parents on their readiness on distance learning. The survey showed that parents from Kindergarten to Grade 4, students from Grades 5-11, and a number of teachers have limited and unreliable internet connections. Cognizant of this situation, the administrators developed the CBL program, a remote learning platform where students learn in part face-to-face and in part, online.

“When the results were gathered, summarized and interpreted, we needed to revise CBL to CBL-A, a combination of a 3-half-day, 40 minute onsite learning and 2-day offsite learning and CBL- B, offsite learning in order to give parents learning modality options. We believe that we can make informed decisions if we have the data,” said Cordero, Associate Principal for Learning Support.

For CBL-A, class size is reduced to 15-20 students while the CBL-B students are to watch live streamed classes at home. The two offsite days are for tasks and online consultation between 8:00 to 10:00 am. The school plans for all its students to take their exams onsite following proper safety protocols if future developments on the virus is to allow it.

The CBL program aims to produce a learning scheme that is “inclusive and efficient,” Cordero said, “As learning modality is enhanced to suit the demand of the current situation and the crisis — it ensures the abilities, facilities, situations and resources of the stakeholders making academic and formation programs of the school effective while it guarantees safety for staff and students during face-to face and remote learning.”

For CBL-A pre-school and grade school (GS) students, onsite days are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday while offsite days are Tuesday and Thursday. For CBL-A junior high school (JHS) and senior high school (SHS) students, onsite days are Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday while offsite days are Wednesday and Friday.

Change of Plans: Face-to-face Restricted

Conversely, the school decided with a level playing field wherein students will adopt CBL-B, full offsite learning, for the beginning of the school year — providing prime safety for the learners as the Department of Education (DepEd) restricted face-to-face classes.

“In the first trimester, we will have CBL-B full offsite. There will be no CBL-A anymore," said Dr. Lagon with regards to the government’s decision to prohibit face-to-face classes.

AdI-SMCS will instead adopt a CBL-B full offsite curriculum for the entire first trimester of the grade school and junior high school, and up to first semester midterms of the senior high school. After these, the learning modality may change depending on the government’s decision.

“All students and teachers will be working together in a virtual classroom we call the Learning Management System (LMS),” said Dr. Lagon.

Offsite learning employs a synchronous and asynchronous learning approach where learners will use a Learning Management System (LMS); K-4 pupils will use Seesaw, Google Classroom for Grades 5-10, and Microsoft Teams for the SHS Unit.

During the webinar with Vibal Group, Dr. Lagon added that the school plans to discuss and orient parents and “train them as far as LMS is concerned and how to deal with their kids at home.”

Parent and guardian orientations were scheduled on the following dates: July 16 for Preschool, Grade 1, and other grade school transferees; July 20 for Grade 7 and other JHS transferees and for Grade 11. There will also be a webinar about CBL for all parents and guardians on July 21.

Online student orientation for the freshmen and new students will be on August 4-5, while orientations for returning students from grades 5 to 12 will be on August 6.

As a response to the sudden changes caused by the crisis, August 7 is dedicated to an online session for students on psycho-emotional wellness and August 10-11 for students’ tech/LMS training and orientation on digital citizenship and the policies per batch.

Online class simulations per section, subject, or formation groups are to be done on August 12-14 while online class orientation of students per subject will be on August 17-21.

Formal classes for the school year will then begin on August 24. Prior that, students are expected to be present on the online platforms in order to acquaint themselves with the new system as part of the school year’s soft opening.

In compliance with the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) and DepEd’s guidelines, the schedule of classes for CBL B-Full Offsite was crafted to include three interactive classes and two independent-learning classes a week, wherein the former refers to teacher-facilitated synchronous classes while the latter refers to asynchronous student-initiated or parent supervised classes for assignments and may also serve as consultation periods.

“While teacher-facilitated classes happen, teachers also have learning packets and asynchronous classes to students with no or slow internet connection,” Dr. Lagon commented.

Synchronous classes will be 40 minutes long with ten minute breaks in between classes. There will be three subjects each in the morning and afternoon. Meanwhile, asynchronous classes will be 30 minutes long with four subjects each in the morning and afternoon.

Dr. Lagon said that independent learning classes are also scheduled even if they are asynchronous “just to make sure if I were the parent, I know the student is doing something.”

For preschool and GS students, interactive classes are on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, while independent-learning classes are on Tuesday and Thursday. For JHS and SHS students, interactive classes are on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, while independent-learning classes are on Monday and Wednesday.

There will also be special classes and sessions for Saturdays which may either be synchronous or asynchronous. Events such as institutional masses, remedial classes, mental health seminars, and career talks, if there are any, will be scheduled on Saturdays.

AdI-SMCS also provides measures to aid students with slow internet, no gadgets, or no connectivity at all in being able to access the learning resources of the school. Students residing in the city will be allowed to acquire the learning packets and modules from drop points that will be set up by the school.

Companies have also offered Ateneans special data packages and discounted prices for hardware.

Graphic: Veronica Jazmin Cuachon