Online Learning And Indigenous Peoples’ Community And Students’ Concerns

It might come as a surprise to many (as it did to me) to know what the academic literature says about the effectiveness of online or INTERNET-based learning schemes compared to face-to-face or traditional educational arrangements.

In sum, “The findings of thousands of studies, over the decades and through the 1990s have been consistent – there are no significant differences in learning outcomes achieved by students engaged in face-to-face instruction compared to those participating in distance education.” Moreover, “This holds true regardless of the technology or medium used, the discipline, or the type of student.”

Furthermore, Beginning around 2000, several studies, including meta-studies (review and analysis of hundreds of studies selected for their rigor), began to find significant differences in favor of online learning. These studies culminated in 2010 with a report from the U.S. Department of Education entitled a “Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies,” which asked “ What does the research in instructional immediacy and the practical suggestions innate to Chickering and Gamson‘s (1987) Seven Principles tell us about effectiveness in web-based instruction?”—Just the things that most (good) instructors already know: encourage students to think and learn, give prompt feedback, provide guidance and support, and consider what new and different ways technology may add support to current strategies and help to induct new ones

See Hutchins, H.M. (2003). Instructional Immediacy and the Seven Principles: Strategies for Facilitating Online Courses, at www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall63/hutchins63.html.

For our immediate and practical concerns as Filipinos, however, what needs to be really probed further now is how have our young learners been experiencing and responding thus far to the practice of online learning especially now that a pandemic has forced the hand of our national agencies to mandate the broad application of distance education or what some educators prefer to refer to as flexible learning approaches across the whole country?

To this end, allow me to share here some key findings of a very recently conducted survey involving 120 students from indigenous communities in Sitios Sapa, Wawa, Anipa of Barangay San Rafael, Rodriguez Rizal.

This rough and recent study was conducted by community development workers of the National Economic Protectionism Association (NEPA) and their student volunteer extension workers from the Ateneo de Manila University.

NEPA Has been partnering with the mentioned IP communities for several years now hence the access to the respondents was facilitated. The study team developed a local language-sensitive survey instrument and used it with the assistance of the community-based Dumagat Women’s association and the Dumagat tribal leaders, aided as well by the parents of the respondents.

DUE diligence and health protocols were observed in the conduct of data-gathering as it was done starting November of 2020 and lasted until December of the same year. The survey was complemented by several face-to-face video-recorded interviews with parents and barangay authorities who underscored the many difficulties that parents and guardians confronted in the online education set up under a pandemic.

The 120 respondents ranged from pre-school learners to senior high students from the barangay and Sitios mentioned.

Let me just share some of the more notable initial findings from the survey of these IP basic education learners

1. Only about 28% of the total respondents had no access to any online gadget at all, with 92.3 of these depending on smart mobile phone devices, NS the rest on tablets and laptops. In many cases, up to 5 students share in the use of a single device/gadget
2. On top of this problem of access to gadgets 63.2% of the learners have no stable or no connection at all to the internet. Only 36.8% have good or reliable access to the net
3. Only 8.2% have access to the net in their own homes. The majority have to depend on available Piso Wifi services in nearby communities.
4. Notably, a quarter of the respondents also complain of not having a conducive area in which to study even within their own homes, on top pf reporting that their neighbors or noise in the community can be distractive.
5. A great majority of them have to get out of their abodes and unduly exposed themselves to the pandemic
6. Parents help their students in getting what printed instructional materials are available from the schools which are located quite far from the sitios
7. The parents, and local authorities underscore this complaint most about not being able to really help much their children in understanding their lessons as needed. This only suggests the need for more guidance from professional educators.
8. It should be noted that studies suggest that distance education is most effective if facilitated and directed by a trained educator.
9. Some teachers revealed that even they themselves could not maintain constant online presence due to the added cost of maintaining internet connectivity
10. Related to this the interviews revealed public concern over the loss of their access to ABS CBN tele-education shows produced by DepEd which the students and their families used to supplement their learnings with.
11. The loss of access to ABS CBN also became palpable because the communities lost access to the latest information n weather matters. This was made even more apparent as the study was ongoing as the area reeled from the effects of typhoon Ulysses
12. Another major challenge for the learners is the need to print out many of their outputs and have them received in the concerned schools
13. 69.4% report that they see the DepEd as not providing many things necessary for the demanded outputs from the students
14. 87.8% report that the schools have been flexible and considerate in accepting submissions and requirements
15. Undergirding all these, the respondents indicated that their out of pocket expenses for education have risen and their families have been sacrificing their limited budget to give way to their education needs—"isusubo na sana, ipang-ko-computer o internet expense na lamang.” (Money should have been used for food but it will be set aside for internet expenses)
16. In all, these iinitial findings suggest the multiple burdens imposed by the online or distance education mode on indigenous peoples families just to better ensure their children’s continued learning.
17. If those in the urban centers are challenged by the oline learning mode, what more our marginalized peoples like theseDumagat Remontado in the boondocks of Rizal PRovince. MOReover, it must be noted that there a lot more other communities that are even harder to reach than these sitios which are just some kilometers near Manila.
18. In the final analysis much intervention and resources have yet to be invested in our communities to ensure that no Filipino child is being left behind in the march to educational and national development.
19. In closing allow me to also share that NEPA and the student volunteers, to somehow immediately help out the community beyond the surveys, donated a DVD player to the barangay by which learners could play Deped-produced tele-edution shows that should have been supplementing the students’ education fare from their schools under the distance education mode.
20. NEPA also donated dictionaries to the community for the students’ learning needs, even as it continues to asssist the community leaders and local volunteers in developing livelihood opportunities in the locale. On the other hand, NEPA’s student-partners from the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health even donated 4 tablets that students in the community can share the usage of among themselves
21. The community needs more assistance and private organizations like NEPA and The Ateneo can only do so much. To say the least, Government needs to be more pro-active given all these complex oncerns