OPPO, Save the Children Philippines Provides Support to Public School Students for Online Distance Learning

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OPPO, in partnership with international children’s organization Save the Children Philippines, has recently completed the turnover of 100 brand new sets of OPPO A12e smartphones, Rock Space Torch Bluetooth Earphones, and special online learning kits to select students from public schools in Navotas City, namely Tanza Elementary School, Tanza National High School, Bagumbayan Elementary School, and Navotas National High School.

Save the Children Philippines’ turnover of donations to the recipients in Navotas City.

Parents attended to claim the A12e smartphones, Rock Space Torch Bluetooth Earphones, and online learning kits.

 

 Filipinos on Online Distance Learning

Securing better access to online distance learning is challenging, especially for those who have lesser means to provide for themselves. This is a common concern among the parents and students of Teacher Claudine of Tanza Elementary School, a Special Education (SpEd) teacher with six years of experience. 

“Nagka-virtual orientation kami ngayon kung paano mangyayari ang modular learning…You really have to do everything and explore all means. Hindi ito normal na may problema lang, may pandemya kasi,” Teacher Claudine shared. “Sa SpEd [students] kasi they need immediate feedback. Kailangan din nila ng individualized na approach. Pero ang parents hindi sila trained to do that. Kung hindi ganoon ka-strong ang foundation and follow-up sa bahay, magiging malaki ang regression.” she added.

Teacher Claudine’s students were some of the selected recipients of the OPPO A12e smartphones and Rock Space Torch Bluetooth Earphones for online distance learning which are useful tools in helping the SpEd students to get the attention and support needed while doing online classes.

Another true experience was shared by Nanay Rosalinda and her daughter Filchriz, who has been diagnosed with Global Developmental Delay. Filchriz is one of the recipients of the OPPO A12e and online learning kit including pencils, pens, crayons for her art classes. “Hindi man niya masabi na miss niya ang school, minsan kapag pinalabas siya dumidiretso [sa daan] papunta sa school,” said Nanay Rosalinda. At home, she mentioned that they do not have a table for Filchriz to study while doing the online classes but the family is doing their best to provide what they could for her to continue classes despite the pandemic situation.

Aside from the smartphone and Bluetooth earphone donations, OPPO and Save the Children also set up a fundraising initiative through the Back-To-School campaign, which started last August. The effort resulted in funds to purchase more online learning kits for other students in need. Each learning kit includes art materials and basic safety and sanitation kits, like alcohol and face masks, for the kids.

“With the joint efforts of OPPO, Save the Children Philippines, and the kind-hearted Filipinos who have participated in this fundraising initiative, we were able to extend help to students most in need of support. We are optimistic that together we can do more for everyone if we continue to band together and lend a helping hand to each other as we overcome these trying times,” OPPO Philippines Marketing Director Raymond Xia.

To learn more about the latest news and programs of OPPO, visit the official website at www.oppo.com/ph or via official Facebook page at OPPO Philippines.

 

Filipino Teachers Share How Canva for Education Helped them Prepare for Distance Learning

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Teachers can simply add their own texts and images on virtual classroom slides

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we operate across the globe, which is especially evident in the educational sector. Pre-COVID-19, most of the schools in the Philippines followed a traditional face-to-face classroom arrangement, however, nowadays, educators around the country have had to find opportunities and urgent solutions to teach their students remotely. With the new school year, classes have commenced digitally, and Filipino educators have worked double time to upskill and equip themselves with the digital tools needed to offer their students a seamless and innovative learning environment. Despite the limited time and resources, many are still 110% committed to their vocation and are excited to prepare the next generation for the future, through good education. 

Canva for Education is a free product offering for educational institutions catering to K-12. It offers thousands of templates and a library of “premium” royalty-free images, as well as features intended to facilitate simultaneous collaboration between students and teachers in the classroom or remotely.

Yani Hornilla-Donato, Canva Philippines’ Country Manager, explained empowering Filipino educators was core to the organization’s goal for 2020.

“Our mission is to bring Canva for Education to every K-12 teacher and student in the country, becoming their creativity and productivity partner of choice during this unprecedented time. We will continue to reach out to schools and teachers across the country as we roll out Canva for Education, providing as much support as we possibly can to make their experience easy,” said Hornilla-Donato. 

Canva Philippines partnered with the Office of the Vice President (OVP) as it rolled out Bayanihan e-Skwela, an online educational platform empowering teachers and parents as children shifted to distance learning. Canva curated templates for some episodes, created posters, and provided the OVP access to the Canva library. In its effort to expand its reach, Canva Philippines also partnered with the Knowledge Channel Foundation and trained teachers in selected schools across the South Cotabato region on how to best use the platform for all their virtual classroom needs.

With its intuitive user-friendly features and a wide variety of classroom templates relevant to specific learning goals, Canva for Education serves as every teacher’s ‘one-stop-shop’ for creating learning materials for their classes and collaborating in the classroom.

Sarah Mae Columnas, a teacher from Mansasa National High School in Bohol explained even though the current environment still provides a level of uncertainty, Canva for Education supports, enables and empowers teachers to be more creative and innovative, whether they’re in the classroom, or teaching remotely.

“Being equipped with the right tools to teach 21st century learners is the responsibility of every teacher across the country, as this is our sworn obligation to uphold our nation’s goals and create a better future for our next generations.

“I encouraged one of my colleagues to use Canva for Education as well and walked her through the process. We have come to realize that it is truly a gift to Filipino teachers,” furthered Ms Columnas. 

One of the biggest changes educators face today is the need to migrate everything they use in their classroom to a digital setting. In addition to that, teachers also acknowledge the challenge of adding variety to their teaching repertoire and curriculum, to ensure their lessons remain just as engaging as a physical setting.

Michelle Brabante, School Director of Minido Preschool in Marinduque said she uses Canva for Education to create video lessons for her students, by using the platform’s talking presentations feature. 

“The students really respond well to our talking presentations; it makes them happy, they feel more connected to us as educators and they’re certainly more engaged with the content we go through,” said Ms Brabante. 

In an effort to further empower teachers with the resources needed to heighten engagement with students in a virtual world, Canva for Education has developed a range of Classroom Kits, inspired by real-life physical classroom set-ups. These themed kits come with templates, illustrations, and photos collection that will inspire Filipino teachers to bring more life and energy to their learning materials as classes resume remotely.

Canva for Education also includes an all-new collaboration space, a review workflow, access to content from Google Drive, Dropbox, Folders, version history and SSO with Clever and Google.

“Canva for Education has helped our team enormously in terms of collaboration. We like working together, and we love that Canva for Education allows us to do our tasks as a team,” added Brabante.

Canva for Education also includes add-ons such as education-specific content, the ability to create captivating videos, plus every ingredient to bring designs to life with Giphys, over 2 million images, 800k icons and illustrations, 700+ fonts, YouTube integrations and QR codes.

Ryan Alvin Torrejos, teacher from German European School Manila explained how Canva for Education has helped him now and will continue to be an invaluable tool for the future.

“I know I will still be using Canva for Education for many years to come, even when students are allowed back into their physical classrooms.“I cannot rate Canva for Education highly enough, and am always recommending it to all my co-teachers, and all the other teachers I know,” said Mr Torrejos.

Recognizing the dedication of the educators in the Philippines, Canva Philippines in partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd), has also held webinars for Filipino teachers to share with them the gift of Canva for Education. The webinars were so well received, Canva launched a Facebook Community for Filipino Teachers that serves as a space for professional support and training for teachers to learn and adapt to the modalities of virtual teaching. With the request and feedback of Filipino teachers in the group, Canva for Education also released localized illustrations, assets, templates, and photos in August in line with the celebration of Buwan ng Wika. 

If you are a K-12 teacher in the Philippines, you may visit https://www.canva.com/education/ to sign-up for your free Canva for Education account.

ABOUT CANVA

Launched in 2013, Canva is an intuitive online design and publishing platform with a mission to empower everyone in the world to design anything and publish anywhere. Featuring a simple drag-and-drop user interface and a vast library of templates ranging from presentations, social media posts, posters, invitations to resumes, a huge collection of stock photography, illustrations and fonts, anyone can take an idea and create something beautiful. Canva is available on web, iOS and Android.

Knowledge Channel ready to work with gov't in distance learning

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As the government shifts to distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Knowledge Channel is ready to share its video lessons that could reach as many as 7.6 million students, a huge portion of the 27 million expected to enroll this school year.

“Knowledge Channel is prepared to work with the government. We have created and acquired more than a thousand video lessons, all based on the K - 12 curriculum of the Department of Education and these are ready for use,” Knowledge Channel Foundation Inc. (KCFI) director for operations Edric Calma said. 

For 21 years, KCFI has developed and acquired multimedia educational materials that public schools nationwide, especially in remote regions used to enhance teaching and learning. They are aired over Knowledge Channel and used for instruction by KCFI-trained teachers and are also designed for home-based learning. Before ABS-CBN went off the air on May 5, Knowledge Channel aired over SKYcable, SKYdirect, ABS-CBN TVplus, and other cable and direct to home satellite TV providers, reaching millions of students. 

According to Calma, KCFI has developed into video format 50% of the most essential learning competencies (MELC) that DepEd requires to be taught for the school year, and that KCFI can easily develop the remaining 50%. 

Knowledge Channel’s method of using TV technology has proven to improve the performance of children in school. Studies conducted by the DLSU La Sallian Institute for Development and Educational Research and the UP Statistical Center for Research Foundation's Impact Study for Proficient Measures for Quality Education revealed that children who were taught using Knowledge Channel video lessons performed better in tests. 

“The most essential learning competencies are the minimum curriculum-prescribed skills that students must acquire,” Calma said.

Calma stressed that the 21st century DepEd curriculum is about understanding and creating designs, systems and processes, unlike in the past when students were just required to memorize. 

“Subjects like mathematics and the sciences involve understanding of processes, and they need to be visually illustrated for kids to understand,” he said, adding “with this kind of curriculum, we need TV.” 

Calma said that Knowledge Channel’s multimedia resources also teach kids critical thinking. 

“Children’s critical thinking and creativity are triggered by video lessons because we challenge them with questions at the beginning, halfway through and at the end of the episode,” Calma said.

Alice Panares, who sits in the board of the National Council for Children's Television, said that the government is faced with the near-impossible task of training a 900,000-strong teaching workforce to teach students using media before the August opening of classes. 

To address this problem, Panares suggested that Knowledge Channel be tapped at the very onset of the distance learning program. 

“While the teachers are being trained, why not tap first the lessons of Knowledge Channel since it already has existing materials,” Panares said, adding that “Knowledge Channel has done a very complete work in educating the students in different areas.”

Panares said that Knowledge Channel is ready with the different subjects that are already in the form of TV lessons made for different grade levels. “I’ve watched many of the lessons and they are ready for airing for the DepEd,” she said.

KCFI president and executive director Rina Lopez Bautista appealed that KCFI be given the chance to share with the government its expertise for the sake of the children. 

Lopez Bautista said, “We believe that learning must continue for all and that no child should be left behind. We appeal to our lawmakers and the Filipino people to recognize ABS-CBN’s contributions to education and that ABS-CBN is granted a new franchise so that we can again reach the children no matter where they are in the Philippines. The Knowledge Channel Foundation continues, and will be working to continue to be in the service of Filipino children.”