The moment I first met Mrs. Marilou Merino, she already shared stories about how DepEd ALS works, her method for delivering instruction, and the circumstances of her students. I could write a detailed report of a background of DepEd ALS Imus based on our casual conversation, but I am a huge fan of structures or frameworks. I needed a tool that will help me capture all the essential details to design an effective project. Plus, it's essential to know the learners myself and do research on the ALS curriculum in the Philippines
Before the needs assessment last March 28, I prepared a Needs Assessment form to help me understand the needs in the following aspects:
Learner needs
Instructional context
Curricular context
learning materials
Keeping my notes from previous courses has its perks! I was able to develop the tool based on the guidelines of The University of Illinois (from EDS112), Doolittle (EDS112), and Lockwood (EDS151).
The Main event
I conducted the Needs Assessment last March 28, 2022 through Google Meet. I sat in on one of their online classes and observed how their classes work. The teacher also allowed me to ask questions from time to time since the duscussion with students was very casual. One of my key findings throughout the two-hour sessions was that, their online classes are not necessarily lectures. The role of the mobile teacher was more of a facilitator of knowledge rather than a transmitter of information. I am amazed at how the ALS learners are able to master the topics independently. The self-instructional materials and complex assessment methods have a huge role to play in their acquisition of competencies.
The main role of the teacher was to assess their learning and remind them of the necessary deadlines. She also encouraged the learners to share their activities, which are in video format. The topic from their Life and Career Skills learning strand was how to read medications. We watched the students' performances, and I can tell that they learn more skills than what is required of them. For example, in submitting video performances, the ALS learners have to learn how to edit videos.
Mrs. Merino also gave a sneak peek of her tools for assessing learners (Appendix I). Some were self-assessment tools and some were hers to fill out. She kept documents of the learners' record of submissions, recognition of prior learning forms, record of module use, and more.
I think most of our meetings will be done online since Mrs. Marilou Merino is a mobile teacher, and this is her mode of delivering instruction to learners. Their community learning center, which was only active pre-pandemic, did not possess the traditional classroom setup. Instead, it was like a tutorial center or a center for distributing and submitting materials. But I am looking forward to visiting the DepEd office again to submit a hard copy of my proposal.
Learn more about the background of DepEd ALS Imus here.
The focus of my special project
The gatekeeper and I finally decided on the focus of my special project after the needs assessment. I will be focusing on creating learning materials about ALS' newest learning strand, which is Digital Citizenship. She told me there was not enough resources (both teaching and learning) provided by DepEd for the learning strand. The specific topic that will cater to the 150 Junior High School students she handles is Digital Ethics.
The Next step
Since I have already assessed the learners and their context, I need to do my research on DepEd's Digital Citizenship learning strand and the type of content I need to develop regarding Digital Ethics. It's necessary for the subject to be relevant to the ALS learners individually and as a group. After that, I will be ready to write my project proposal.
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