It’s been a year since the Philippine has been plunged into lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic and things are still bad as ever. With travel requirements still necessary to move around the country and cases climbing higher than ever, the past year has put a halt to almost all aspects of normalcy.
One of the hardest hit sectors is education.
According to statistics, there are 27 million school children from kindergarten to grade 12 in the entire country. A year after schools first shut down and despite extensive lockdowns, the lack of effective action against the virus have kept schools closed.
In response to the disruptive nature of the emergency, the Department of Education created multiple channels through which educators can continue the improvement of their students. Aside from educational broadcasts, which have suffered some drawbacks, DepEd also created DepEd Commons.
Learn what is DepEd Commons, who can access it and how to use it.
What is DepEd Commons?
DepEd Commons is an online education platform that allows educators to share their resources and learning materials with each other and their students. This is essential because DepEd commons acts as a way to supplement online learning efforts with ease.
For example, your child’s teacher is going to tackle volcanos in their next lesson. However, they may not be able to personally send learning materials and required readings to every child in their class. Instead of uploading such materials in different platforms or painstakingly sending these materials to each student they can simply put them up on DepEd Commons.
The beauty of DepEd Commons is that it also allows educators to look at each other’s learning materials and improve their curriculum. Students can also access the site on mobile or desktop platforms for free. Loading the online site doesn’t incur any data charges, thanks to arrangements with telecom companies.
These features and capabilities allow teachers and students to exchange relevant information and make distance learning efforts more effective.
Who Can Use DepEd Commons?
DepEd Commons was created explicitly for both students and teachers. Due to problems regarding printing learning modules or issues with the scarcity of such materials, DepEd Commons was created to act as a solution until schools can open up again.
Teachers can access DepEd Commons through their accounts. Once they’re logged into the site, they can upload their learning materials into the appropriate grade level and subject. Students can access these learning materials by logging into the site through their own accounts.
Children younger than high-school grade may need parental guidance or the help of an older adult navigating the site. But essentially, students can have easy access to the learning require. They can browse or download these materials through the internet easily, thanks to the site’s accessibility on desktop and mobile configurations.
How Do You Use DepEd Commons?
The following are some steps to access DepEd Commons from mobile and desktop web browsers. Accessing the site does not incur internet data charges. However, opening external links from the site will still increase cost as usual.
- Open the internet browser of your choice on a desktop, laptop or phone.
- Enter commons.deped.gov.ph into the address bar before hitting the Enter key.
- On the main page of the site, you can select the type of school you work or study in. Choose between Private or Public.
- You can either input your School ID or the School Name on the box below the school type.
- Carefully check the name, spelling and location of the school to make sure you’ve inputted the correct information. It will help to search these information on the internet before your input them.
- Choose whether you are a Student or a Teacher before typing in your full name and email address.
- Click the Save button near the bottom of the screen.
- Click on the Select a Grade Level tab on the left side of the screen. When the tab drops down, select the grade level you’re in or you teach in.
- After you’ve picked your Grade Level, you can choose the Subject wo want to explore. The numbers near the Subject indicate the number of resources associated.
- A resource is either Downloadable or from an External Link. Click on the Download File button to access and secure a file or click on the Go to Link button to view an external resource. Remember that external links are not free of data charges and that you will have to pay for the data usage.
A year after the pandemic first struck and educators and students are still reeling from the impact. However, platforms like DepEd Commons have made this process significantly easier. Learning how to use such platforms effectively is essential in maintaining a good education for children throughout the country.