It has now been over a week for our combined teaching and learning situation in the midst of this difficult time where everyone is challenged to cope with different tasks.

So as a classroom teacher now online guide for my select and lucky angels, well the daily hurdle has been difficult, challenging and at times taxing on the psyche. Yes, not all of my students can cope simply because they don’t have the necessary technology like an Android cell phone, iPad, desktop, laptop, or any of those educational tools that some of the lucky few have.

Well, given the above situation, I for one believe that parents could do something worthwhile for their children’s education by doing their best to have a working cell phone suitable for an online class. However, there are a number of reasons why some parents do not have the ability to provide for their children simply because of poverty, unemployment, lack of education, or the motivation to keep up with current trends in education and learning delivery, especially this COVID-19 pandemic.

Still, there are advantages and disadvantages to distance learning, especially for blended learning, for both children and parents.

PROS

1. Kids can now have plenty of time browsing the different apps to absorb the lessons and apply them in their daily routine.

2. Parents can see how their children are spending their learning time. They could even help them manage their time to get all the tasks done without leaving other tasks behind. Teachers, like me, are sending home guides for their students, serving as a reference, so that their subjects are studied in a certain time, with a number of minutes included.

3. Children can show their skills in using the Internet, for example, by researching a story to read, a photo to write an essay, and facts about important events in history, especially during holidays and other commemorative exercises in Social Science subjects, to name one.

4. Parents have time to help their children with their reading and writing homework, as well as the difficulties their children encounter in arithmetic, science, etc.

5. Kids also have time to be more conversational in front of their camera while answering questions, sharing stories, and other activities where talking is the goal, especially about how they express themselves, with confidence minus face-to-face interactions.

6. Parents, for the most part, also have the opportunity to learn, as if they had a review of their previous education; of course, with updated information where the irrelevant ones had been changed to a more appropriate one, particularly with Science topics, say number of planets, etc.

7. Children also have the opportunity to become global citizens by learning all about the Internet of Things and collaborating with other students from around the world. Yes, teachers need to have a partner teacher from another country, for example, a science class in the Philippines co-learning with a science class in the US about the different landscapes during winter and of course the sunny weather in the Philippines. With videos, photos and the like, students from these two countries could learn a lot from each slideshow shared through Google Meet, Zoom Meeting, among other technological tools suitable for this purpose.

CONS

1. Children without a reliable internet connection are left behind when it comes to learning online. However, with modules available around; well, everyone gets a chance to learn the concepts, samples, and deep learning once a conscientious teacher implements enrichment or remedial programs for those who need it. Yes, creativity is key to providing every learning opportunity for children facing technology challenges in online learning. Apart from the lack of those gadgets like android cell phone, lappie or desktop computer, internet charging also becomes a hurdle, for who can afford them when parents are unemployed, in extreme poverty and you know what.

2. Parents experience more stress when their children cannot keep up with their peers, neighbors competing with their children and other unequal opportunity scenarios, a sad reality most in my class belong to this situation where it is impossible to keep up with the Juanes.

3. Kids, entrepreneurs and all, turn to cheating online. Yes, there is a group chat where the answers to the modules are uploaded and a lazy bone will just copy and paste those and rape, get the perfect score, later recognition as highest honors, etc. Oh, this sorry state of education could be a training ground for future leaders who won’t do sensible things but to aggrandize themselves, and so on.

4. Parents bear all the burden when their children have not yet mastered time management, discipline, and honesty in doing their homework, for example, reviewing lessons before going online, answering modules with integrity, and the like.

5. Children have more time to be distracted by different things on the Internet. Yes, some are good at browsing different sites and they might be in great danger when they open some dangerous websites inappropriate for their mental age, corrupting their innocent minds with rubbish and other ideologies that might harm them instead of helping them improve their literacy and numeracy challenges.

6. Parents have problems getting their children to answer the modules, especially when they have more than 10 in a week and have 4 children with this type of modality. Still, in the online class, when an Android cell phone is available, how could they have the same time participating when they could barely cope with low internet signal, charging, and other challenges present in a house of necessities?

There you go. If you are free from such challenges, you are lucky enough to face all these challenges and you will emerge victorious with continuity of learning in the midst of this difficult time. However, courage, resilience, and perseverance can be our saving grace in facing these obvious realities. No matter what challenges come our way to teaching/learning, we always expect the best result through our best effort. Keep your head up, always. Stay safe, healthy and holy. Health!