A professor of the Catanduanes State University has criticized the recent shift to the hybrid mode of teaching allegedly due to the hot weather, claiming that no adequate consultations were made with teachers.
In a letter dated April 11, 2024 to Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Gemma G. Acedo, the faculty member of the Department of Social Sciences, Dr. Ramon Felipe A. Sarmiento, expressed “serious reservations” to the coordinating memorandum she issued last April 5.
Dr. Acedo’s memo to university officials in both the main and Panganiban campuses said it was prudent to initiate a hybrid learning approach from April 15 to May 17, 2024 to ensure the well-being of students in view of “health and safety concerns associated with prolonged exposure to excessive heat.”
In addressing the challenges posed by high heat indices, the vice president directed that hybrid classes be utilized in face-to-face lectures and/or online demonstrations by faculty members, allowing students to study independently.
Laboratory Schools and General Education Courses shall be on hybrid modality, Acedo stated, but the Graduate Program shall be in face-to-face mode but online mode may be utilized.
All faculty members must maintain a Group Chat with their students and upload their lectures/modules to the media platforms of their choice, she added, with the final exams to be conducted face-to-face.
“We are committed to maintaining high standards of learning while prioritizing the health and well-being of our university,” the VP stressed, adding that the memo serves as a proactive measure to mitigate the impact of extreme heat on educational operations.
Dr. Sarmiento, however, pointed out that there is no real and urgent reason for the measure, since Virac is still getting intermittent rain and the sky is mostly cloudy, with the extreme heat limited to a few locations in the country.
“We have always been a tropical country that gets regular warm weather. We know how to deal with it as a matter of cultivated adaptation,” he said, noting that in Manila is not shifting to online mode.
He averred that most teachers and students he talked to do not like the shift, citing the bad effects on learning during the COVID lockdown and a similar shift made in mid-semester last year.
“It seems there is haste in employing this measure,” Dr. Sarmiento opined, with the memo having not enough guidelines on how to assure quality instruction.
He stated that it does not specify what can be allowed or not in the teaching strategy and does not operationalize the hybrid mode.
“The GC and Facebook are not teaching platforms,” the social science professor asserted, remarking that that many of the faculty now are quite new and have no preparations for online teaching.
Connectivity and expenditures for load appear to have been left out of consideration while no adequate transition period was provided to allow preparations for both teachers and students, Sarmiento said.
He suggested that the weather problem be addressed in a more calibrated approach rather than through a blanket shift of modality.
Monitoring of the weather forecast can be done on a day-to-day basis and suspension can be made accordingly by the teachers, he added.
Dr. Sarmiento suggested that water dispensers be placed in strategic locations, room ventilation can be improved and fans can be distributed for free by generous individuals, while the university clinic can address cases of ill-health due to the hot weather.
As of press time, the professor has yet to receive a reply from the VPAA’s office.
The capital town of Virac has enjoyed a few days of moderate to heavy rains in the past week, with even the actual PAGASA heat index data for the period showing a maximum of only 42.1˚C heat index for April 9.
The other heat index numbers for the rest of the week – 38.9˚C on the 8th, 40.5˚C on the 10th, 39.9˚C on the 11th, and 38.9˚C on the 12th – are all below the dangerous 42˚C to 51˚C range that can cause heat cramps and heat exhaustion.
The first week of the April was even hotter, with heat indices above 40˚C except for the 3rd when it dipped to 39˚C.