Being in quarantine is really a challenge. What challenges did you encounter while being in quarantine?
The lockdown impacted all of us quite suddenly and no one realised how severe its effects as well as how to solve or mitigate them at the outset. We do not have any experience regarding a sudden loss of face to face interaction for both our students and as teachers. For my experience this Covid, we were caught at a time when we have yet to finish the semester, with 3 exams pending, a long exam, finals and removals. All teaching-learning activities were delivered already prior to the lockdown.
Challenges:
due to the pandemic, we revisited our rubric and made adjustments in favor of the students, so all may pass. further exams were cancelled in certain subjects. majority, this was not the case, as most students need the added exams to pull up their precovid grades so the following were done:
1. need to complete evaluations online using either Google forms or Classmarker
2. issues regarding varying connectivity and power supply for students
3. we decided on synchronous exams for equity issues and we were not prepared to do otherwise
4. online exams included academic integrity concerns especially exam impersonators, so we considered lowering its weight vs previous face to face exams pre covid
5. video proctoring via zoom or google meet verified attendance at least at the start of the exam but had problems with sustaining it for the exam duration due to bandwidth issues. we allowed discontinuing the video and prioritizing the exams. we set up a simultaneous viber chat where students and faculty-proctors can interact regarding problems during the exams (mostly disconnections and power interruptions)
6. Google forms resets the answers when it is disconnected. we just gave specific students individual extensions for submission.
7. Classmarker allows you to go back to your last answered question when you reconnect as long as you are still within the time.
8. Exam duration was limited to prevent cheating.
9. We had students from Aparri, Sorsogon, Samar, Sultan Kudarat...no significant issues experienced
10. Overall very good learning experience for everyone, online exams are feasible and doable, but may be limited to MCQs and weights may be adjusted in favor of face to face assessments and evaluations.
Thank you for the opportunity to share.
Challenges:
due to the pandemic, we revisited our rubric and made adjustments in favor of the students, so all may pass. further exams were cancelled in certain subjects. majority, this was not the case, as most students need the added exams to pull up their precovid grades so the following were done:
1. need to complete evaluations online using either Google forms or Classmarker
2. issues regarding varying connectivity and power supply for students
3. we decided on synchronous exams for equity issues and we were not prepared to do otherwise
4. online exams included academic integrity concerns especially exam impersonators, so we considered lowering its weight vs previous face to face exams pre covid
5. video proctoring via zoom or google meet verified attendance at least at the start of the exam but had problems with sustaining it for the exam duration due to bandwidth issues. we allowed discontinuing the video and prioritizing the exams. we set up a simultaneous viber chat where students and faculty-proctors can interact regarding problems during the exams (mostly disconnections and power interruptions)
6. Google forms resets the answers when it is disconnected. we just gave specific students individual extensions for submission.
7. Classmarker allows you to go back to your last answered question when you reconnect as long as you are still within the time.
8. Exam duration was limited to prevent cheating.
9. We had students from Aparri, Sorsogon, Samar, Sultan Kudarat...no significant issues experienced
10. Overall very good learning experience for everyone, online exams are feasible and doable, but may be limited to MCQs and weights may be adjusted in favor of face to face assessments and evaluations.
Thank you for the opportunity to share.
I had plenty of momentum to pursue HPEd when I enlisted in December. CoVid appealed casually to me because being in NTTCHP and UPM requires that its constituents be critical of information which meant that I would only subscribe to evidence based on research. I was willing to continue travelling from Tarlac to Manila and back to attend face to face classes because being in school gave all of us the mindset that learning was the agenda for the day, and that we could leave all non-academic matters where they should be.
Being thrust into the quarantine removed that time-space warp. I suddenly found myself looking at a mashup of home, work, and school contexts and it was difficult to isolate one from the other. There was no more sanctuary that provided all the necessary resources and essential interactions for learning. The momentum I had for learning was at risk of dying, like a patient gasping for breath. It was like CoVid slowly killing my learning momentum.
In the end, I prevailed. Deadlines have a way of getting people back on track.