In response to the two main concerns outlined in the rationale through the ongoing KTOP (Kapakanan ng Tao sa Oras ng Pandemya) initiatives of NRCP, Project RD-DIY-Micro has identified two key strategies related to the remote delivery of lessons amidst the current COVID 19 pandemic. First, I will be assessing the struggles encountered and the coping strategies employed by the teachers and students of microbiology during the online classes. I taught two undergraduate microbiology courses during the 2nd term of AY 2020-2021. At the end of the semester, I conducted an online survey (n=118) to assess the students’ perception of our online learning activities. This survey will list down their challenges and coping strategies and will identify online learning activities that engages students and enhances their learning. The survey also asked about their performance and whether the enriched mode of learning has contributed to the achievement of the learning goals at the course, program, and institutional levels. Additionally, an online perception survey was also conducted with my colleagues (n=8) who handled microbiology courses during the second term. This survey also will identify the challenges encountered by the teachers in their online delivery of lessons in microbiology. The survey also asked their rating of their performance and the strategies they employed to address students’ concerns. Therefore, during the first month of the proposed Project RD-DIY-Micro, the results of these online perception surveys will be analyzed to provide a science-based and local evaluation of online teaching and learning in microbiology. It will enumerate the challenges and struggles encountered by our teachers and students, particularly in the online teaching of microbiology where theoretical knowledge and technical/practical skills are equally important to develop competencies. In anticipation for the need to develop the technical skills as identified by the first phase of Project RD-DIY-Micro, a second phase of the project is planned. The remote delivery of lessons, while has facilitated acquisition of theoretical knowledge, has unfortunately not fully addressed the development of technical or practical skills, particularly in microbiology, where laboratory instruction is a crucial and an integral component of learning. In the past, I have developed and published several learning activities that were successfully employed in my teaching of microbiology, see dela Cruz (2014, 2020), dela Cruz & Aril-dela Cruz (2018), dela Cruz et al. (2012, 2013), Macabago & dela Cruz (2012), Winsett et al. (2017). The second month of the proposed Project RD-DIY-Micro will therefore develop a new learning activity that can be deployed online but will facilitate acquisition of technical skills for both undergraduate and graduate students of microbiology. The learning activity can be accomplished by the students synchronously or asynchronously, thereby allowing the students to manage their own time in the performance of their tasks. This will be achieved through the proposed Do-It-Yourself (DIY) learning activity package which students can easily and safely perform within the confines of their homes but will facilitate performance of technical skills which are often acquired through face-to-face learning in laboratory classrooms. The DIY learning activity package will also include a collection of videos and images which are integrated into the learning activity, and therefore, are very critical for the DIY experiments. In addition, following the step-by-step instructions, the students will perform tasks that can be done in their own backyards and/or in a forest, urban park, or any green spaces in their area. This will provide our Filipino students a “more realistic”, a “local feel”, a “direct connection”, and a “closer-to-home” (Philippine setting) learning experience. For the Do-It-Yourself tasks, learning materials can also be easily acquired from local school supplies or conducted through materials readily available at home.
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