PURELY ONLINE COLLEGE COURSES

 PURELY ONLINE COLLEGE COURSES

Dear Mr. President, according to Microsoft Copilot, “the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) does not allow purely 100% online courses. According to CHED Memorandum Order No. 16, signed by Chairman Prospero De Vera III, higher education institutions (HEIs) are required to offer either full face-to-face classes or hybrid learning modalities. for hybrid classes, at least 50% of the total contact time must be conducted in person".

Also according to Copilot, the Commission came up with this policy “to ensure that students can receive hand-on and practical learning experiences, especially for laboratory courses, on-the-job training and apprenticeships”. Just to be clear Mr. President, I am not against this policy that was issued by CHED. However, I am writing this letter to you in the hope that you could intervene, to convince Chairman De Vera that there are practical ways to interpret this policy, without bending the rules.

I believe Sir, that the better way to interpret the policy is to separate the theoretical and the practical components of these courses. What I mean Sir, is that the theoretical components of the courses could be conducted purely online, while the practical components could be conducted purely offline, meaning onsite. For purposes of this discussion, the term “onsite” could be interpreted to mean “on campus” or “off campus”.

I also believe Mr. President that there should be no argument when it comes to on-the-job training, because OJT could not really be done except by way of face-to-face “on premise”. However, Sir, it also not be argued that due to its purpose, OJT must be done “off campus”. The same goes for apprenticeships Sir, because apprenticeships must be done “off campus” also.

Following my line of argument, it seems that it is there is no choice except to do laboratory work “offline” and via face-to-face, but I submit that this component could be done “off campus”, perhaps in a laboratory in a location that is nearest to the student. Although these ideas that I am presenting might sound new for some people, these are already being practiced in many countries.

Pardon the long introduction Mr. President; to go direct to my point now, I think online learning that will be catering to foreign students could be a strong dollar earner for our country eventually. Although I am speaking in the future sense Sir, the online learning industry is already happening now in our country, by way of Filipino teachers teaching English to foreign students via the internet.

As a matter of fact, Mr. President, it would not be far-fetched to say that this emerging trend could eventually manifest itself as a form of “educational tourism”. Again, as a matter-of-fact Sir, this is already happening in reverse now, as many Filipino students are now enrolled in online courses conducted by foreign schools.

If we apply this concept to our local situation, it could become possible for students from the provinces to enroll in online courses that are being offered by the schools in Metro Manila. I am very sure Mr. President, that regardless of where they are, there could always be local companies that could offer them the opportunities for OJT and apprenticeship programs. Respectfully yours, IKE SENERES/11-29-24/visit my blog senseneres.blogspot.com