THE NATIONAL Service Training Program (NSTP) may revert to the classroom method if the Blackboard Learning Management (blackboard) will suffer.
“We will be forced to have our facilitators see the students physically if the system fails more than the anticipated disruptions,” said Dr. Lito Maranan, Civic Welfare Training Services Coordinator. “We have to comply with the schedule of the modules otherwise we will not finish the lessons.”
But Maranan said the lecture mode would require more teachers.
There are more than 5000 students who are enrolled in the program, against only 16 facilitators, he said. Ten are handling the CWTS, while six are facilitating the Literary Training Service (LTS).
A breakdown caused the day-and-a-half disruption of the University’s online lessons, especially the NSTP, whose students were supposed to take the first post-test exam, which were only available last Saturday and Sunday, June 25 to 26. Access to the system was restored on June 27.
Based on NSTP’s rough estimate, only 30 to 35 per cent of the NSTP students were able to take the exam on June 25. The rest are still waiting for the test to be rescheduled.
Santo Tomas e-Service Providers (Steps) network administrator John Uy said the system breakdown was the first major outage since the University subscribed to Teleglobe, the University’s Internet service provider (ISP), two years ago.
Uy said Teleglobe had a problem with their equipment, causing the breakdown. Blackboard, which is operated by Steps, is the system that supports the online subjects, including the NSTP course, of the University. The system started operations in 2003.
Uy said Steps could not prevent external problems, like the Teleglobe case from occurring. The only solution is to establish back-up links, he added.
The University’s back-up link is Bayantel. Steps in fact subscribed to Bayantel during the three-day outage.
