To adapt to the ‘new normal’ amidst the COVID-19 epidemic, the Philippines’ Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Region 2 has launched webinars on electronic-commerce (e-commerce) for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
The Regional Director Engineer, Sancho Mabborang, said that the webinars aim to encourage the MSMEs to shift into online marketing and product promotion.
According to a press release, DOST is encouraging them to establish their e-commerce portals so that they can do business online. This is the trend. This is the new normal, so they need to adapt with this system, he said
Though there are already some who have already started online marketing, there are still those who have not tried and will establish their respective e-commerce portals.
He urged not only those on the food industry to follow the same. Even those in the auto supply, metals, and engineering can move their processes online.
Aside from this, DOST continues to offer online training to interested entrepreneurs. It also encourages them to venture on the production of the essential products in this pandemic phenomenon like face masks, alcohols, and others within the standard of the health department.
He also said they are yet to conceptualise intervention for the beneficiaries of the Balik Probinsiya, Bagong Pagasa program.
Makati City-based college Information and Communications Technology Academy or iAcademy is providing webinars to parents for a discussion in which the school academic officials and parents will have discourse on what entails flexible remote learning and the preparations the school has done to ensure the continuous and dynamic delivery of education for its students.
Even before the pandemic happened, iAcademy had been implementing technology-enabled learning by utilising various online platforms and tools like NEO and Google Classroom to deliver lessons.
With the current health crisis and government pronouncements prohibiting the conduct of face-to-face classes, iAcademy has decided to roll out its new approach called GOAL or Guided Online Autonomous Learning.
When the pandemic broke, all schools and universities were forced to expedite the use of technology to deliver instruction to ensure that learning is not disrupted. The college saw this challenge as an opportunity.
iAcademy will implement an online distance learning program called GOAL or Guided Online Autonomous Learning. GOAL is an online distance education program designed to provide a flexible, relevant, balanced, and collaborative learning experience to students, the iAcademy’s OIC Vice President for Academic Affairs said.
The program will be learner-centred and faculty-directed. It is anchored on a holistic and adaptive approach to teaching and learning.
It factors in the learning capacity of the students and provides learning activities that are engaging, relevant and outcome-based.
The focus is to equip students with the essential knowledge, values, and skills to prepare them for future challenges in their careers.
It is also faculty-directed because students are still guided, monitored, and mentored by the professors in despite the absence of face-to-face interaction. The professors will continue to do regular check-ins on students to know how they are doing and how they are managing their time and workload.