Almost one month after the opening of the current academic year last September 10, 2020, the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences Student Council (CFOS-SC) thanked the faculty members and staff of the College for making remote learning bearable.
In celebration of the World Teacher’s Day on October 5, the student council posted in their social media account a message expressing their appreciation for all the efforts done by the CFOS administration to make their transition from the traditional classroom to remote learning manageable.
“To all the professors who worked tirelessly on the modules, the OCS (Office of the College Secretary) and admin staff who worked around the clock to process requests and enrolment and the many unsung heroes working behind the scenes to aid our students who have no access to the Internet, from the bottom of our hearts, the CFOS SC would like to extend our gratitude for all the hard work you have done to make this school year as bearable as it can be,” the post read.
Given the challenges due to the shift to remote learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic, they pointed out the sacrifices of the professors to prepare and finish the coursepacks, a compilation of course materials including syllabi, learning guides, and other activities, to facilitate the learning of each student.
“We salute you ma’ams and sirs for molding the minds of the future. We hope you all stay safe and healthy in this pandemic,” they furthered.
The global pandemic forced schools to adopt technology-delivered instruction as an actual classroom environment.
The CFOS under the leadership of dean Encarnacion Emilia S. Yap struggled to provide purposeful learning experiences to the students while operating remotely.
In her welcome message during the CFOS Opening Program on September 11, 2020, the dean underscored the challenges and apprehensions of the students as well as that of the educators under the new set-up.
“We all feel the same way to this present set-up and this remote learning system in the University is all new to all of us. We are learning from this new system and the struggle is so real. You are not used to having remote learning. We are not trained to give you lessons remotely but we are doing everything we can to come up with decent lessons for you to learn,” Yap stated.
Yap encouraged the students to reach out to their professors for any concerns to be addressed faster and properly.
“We are all doing these in the hope that you will appreciate what we have prepared for you. In the hope that you do not bash us if there are miscommunications, missing files or wrong sent files. In the hope that as a family, we help each other and we all learn from this together,” she added. “We will take care of you to become adults who will help us in uplifting the status of our fishers, who will help us come up with a resilient fisheries industry that is responsive to the needs of the Filipino people.”
The College ensured that all students, under the new normal, receive the coursepacks especially those with no access to gadgets and the Internet. Printed materials were sent out via courier to all undergraduate students with no Internet connectivity and USB to those with gadgets but no adequate Wi-Fi at home. Students with good Internet connectivity can access all the information through their respective LMS (learning management system) account. LMS is a software designed to create, distribute, and manage the delivery of educational content.
(This was originally posted on the UP Visayas website on October 21, 2020)