TWO YEARS OF DISTANCE LEARNING --

At one moment, students were so excited that schools had declared suspension of classes. More time for games, Netflix, and social media, right? It’s all fun and games until students and teachers alike are stuck at home for almost two years now. How does that make them feel?

Undeniably, Covid-19 has taken a huge toll on everyone. Globally, it has been taking lives, jobs, and learning away from classrooms. Education has never been the same since the second quarter of 2020. Students now must go through online classes; not to mention some who attend modular learning set-up.

The University of the Immaculate Conception declared suspension of classes on the 13th of March 2020, halting examinations in the undergraduate programs and even the commencement exercises for the Batch 2020 graduates. School administrators swiftly covered the process of changing learning modalities and made policies that the whole academic community would follow. Students shared that they miss all about going to school – their classmates, friends, teachers, sports, extracurricular activities, even “the loud and crazy traffic and the terrible food outside the campus”.

Two years since the declaration of the world pandemic, UIC has made sure that the students would continue to learn and go to school virtually every day. School administrators planned out that the distance learning course of the university will still adapt two semesters, with each semester divided into two terms. The University has also implemented both synchronous and asynchronous classes. Students have an hour of online classes as a part of their lesson discussion and two hours’ worth of asynchronous class that they can use to do assigned tasks and activities.

The University also secured that the students would still have time for extracurricular activities and mental health breaks. Thus, the “Rest Day Friday” was born. Teachers are highly encouraged not to give students any Teaching-Learning activities or Assessment Tasks on Fridays and weekends. This is also the University’s way of giving teachers a break from class preparations and online teaching.

Even with these distance learning strategies crafted by the university, there are still external problems that UIC students are facing. Some mentioned that balancing their academic and school life is still hard even if they don’t have to work weekends. One student expressed that short deadline for their Teaching Learning Activities or TLAs, Assessment Tasks or ATs, and assignments take a toll on them mentally and physically. Aside from short deadlines, there are also chores in the house that they cannot decline since it is also their duty. From deadlines and overflowing activities plus readings, one of the most reported problems, since online classes started, is the intermittent internet connection and blackouts from time to time.

It was hard to comprehend the learning process in the new normal at first. But as months passed by, teachers have developed skills and strategies to use distance learning tools for the students. One teacher from the College of Arts and Humanities said that her classes have been quite challenging, and it stirred her creativity. At one point, the whole class had to do a virtual production of their theater play since it was everything, they could do due to the pandemic. The event was successful, and everyone had a great time -- even if it is done via Zoom!

True enough, people cannot be stopped from teaching and learning -- not even Covid-19.