ELECTRONIC learning is making headway at Asia’s oldest university.
Keeping up with the fast pace of technology, UST’s Electronic Learning Access Program (e-Leap) is now one of the most advanced e-learning systems in the country.
“We offer the whole package (referring to online classes and grading), perhaps the ideal e-learning system in the Philippines,” e-Leap project manager Ninia Calaca said.
Although other schools, like De La Salle University, Ateneo de Manila University, and La Consolation College, have implemented a similar system, Calaca said their e-learning program are not as established as UST’s e-Leap.
“In the Philippines, UST is the only school implementing e-learning on a mass scale, said Calaca. “Except for the grade school and the high school, all our students have e-Leap accounts.”
Information technology experts determine the state of e-learning of an institution or a country through waves. The first wave is the initial implementation of an e-learning system, while the second wave when the system is gears up for full operation. The third wave is achieved when all the materials are available online and the system is used to the fullest extent.
The University, however, suffered a blow to its intranet and online services as a major switching in the Main Bldg. broke down.
Fr. Melchor Saria, the Santo Tomas e-Services Providers Director, said in a memo to all University administrators that UST’s seven-year-old CISCO switching equipment, which had caused local area network problems since mid-August, went down last Sept. 2. He added that the services would hopefully return to normal by next week.
Saria said the equipment was scheduled for replacement this year.
Calaca said while the Philippines and its Asian neighbors, Malaysia and India, are on the first wave, UST has already entered into the second wave despite the program being relatively new.
With 250 pilot students in 2002, e-Leap broadened its service to cater to around 30,000 students from different faculties and colleges. General education subjects like History, Algebra, and English are packed in modules in the program to augment teacher-student interaction in the classroom.
Educational Technology Center Director Alberto Laurito said e-leap team will now focus on the possibility of putting major subjects online.
“We are targeting third-year to fifth-year subjects for e-leap,” he said. “But it will be hard because we have to train faculty members teaching major subjects.”
However, Calaca clarified that the program was not built to completely phase out the traditional way of teaching.
“We are not saying that e-learning is the best method for teaching but since our students are too dependent with technology, we would like to maximize (it),” Calaca said. “Rather, we are saying that technology can facilitate the learning of the students.”
E-Leap has been earning commendations from other countries, like the United States, which is already in the third wave.
