Media Release:
THE Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) supports the initiative of the Department of Education (DepEd) that aims to provide an extensive array of online learning resources to the general public through its DepEd Commons, a free-for-use service.
This developed as the DICT facilitated a letter of endorsement to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) containing the proposed initiative written by Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones. The letter requested NTC to call for support of telecommunication providers, including PLDT-Smart and Globe, to ensure that users accessing the platform will not incur any data charges.
“The continued provision of access and connectivity to DepEd Commons is essential to the government’s continuous delivery of public education services to learners, teachers and other users,” DICT Secretary Gregorio B. Honasan II said in the letter.
DepEd Commons provides online review materials and the Open Educational Resources (OER) produced by public school teachers from various fields and practice areas. Educators can incorporate said materials to their respective learning outlines, and use it also to assist in distance learning. According to DepEd, over 2.6 million users have accessed the platform at the height of the quarantine period.
These efforts to improve online learning access are crucial in light of the ongoing Coovid-19 situation and its impact on the operations of schools this coming school year 2020-2021.
“Access to materials and resources for learning and education during these times is critical to preparing our children for the future, which is why the DICT fully supports ICT-enabled initiatives for education, like the DepEd Commons,” Honasan said.
“DepEd’s initiative is one that brings us much closer to transitioning to a ‘new normal’. Guided by the President’s (Rodrigo R. Duterte) instructions through the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force), the DICT will assist DepEd in realizing its vision of enabling our students to continue with their education, despite the current situation.”
Interested participants may access the platform as well as the step-by-step registration guide through https://commons.deped.gov.ph/user_guide. (DICT)