Background

The Department of Education (DepEd) Division of Imus City is the main provider of the Alternative Learning System (ALS) in Imus, Cavite. According to the Department of Education (n.d.), ALS is the alternate or substitute learning system and a ladderized, modular, non-formal education program for individuals who do not have access to formal education. The program covers all 97 barangays of Imus City to assist dropouts in elementary and secondary schools, out-of-school youths, non-readers, and working Filipinos.

​

This special project site was chosen because of the multiple mutual benefits that the institution and I, the instructional designer, could share. First, non-formal education run by government agencies in the Philippines requires more attention and support given the current education and socio-economic crises experienced by its learners and educators. Next, I could better apply my knowledge and skills to non-formal education as they align with what I learned about adult learning, distance education, and other principles. 

​

Learner Context

150+ Junior High School students from Barangay Anabu 1, Anabu 2, Pasong Buaya 1, Pasong Buaya 2, and Carsadang Bato are on the list of ALS Imus mobile teacher, Mrs. Marilou Merino, although only 40-50 students are actively participating in the distance learning program. The students are aged sixteen and above, ranging from stay-at-home mothers to construction workers, overseas Filipino workers, and full-time students. 

​

These students believe that their enrollment in ALS was mainly motivated by their desire for career opportunities. They are most knowledgeable on topics that involve functional literacy or practical “life skills” rather than complex, scientific concepts. For instance, the students’ science strand concentrates more on learning how to read medicine labels or recycling than biological concepts or stoichiometry. These learners also have extensive technology skills that allow them to edit PDF documents when answering self-learning modules and edit videos for school requirements. The unique topics in the ALS program are not an issue for the adult learners as they desire to learn lessons they can apply in “the real world.” In terms of attitude toward the content, the active ALS students are very independent as they read and answer the self-learning modules with little to no assistance from the mobile teacher. 

​

Instructional and Curricular Context

Pre-pandemic, the ALS mobile learning program was already done using a distance learning setup. Learners acquire printed modules in the Barangay Carsadang Bago 2 Hall to independently study and answer. The teacher also conducted infrequent learning sessions in the barangay hall in case a topic was too challenging for the learners. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, the learners and teacher had to switch online to distribute the self-learning modules. The occasional teaching sessions also transferred to Zoom as synchronous group video calls. 

​

The instructional materials and strategies employed principles of lifelong learning, as advised by the Department of Education, to allow the learners to improve their quality of life and become more productive members of society. However, the ALS materials are not optimized for distance learning as they resemble static textbook chapters that do not make up for the teacher's absence. Moreover, ALS originally includes six learning strands. But due to the lack of instructional materials provided by the Department of Education, the Imus division has not yet launched the sixth learning strand called Digital Citizenship. Therefore, the Junior High School ALS students have not yet learned any topic from the subject.