Memo on Digital Days Dry Run (HE Memo#Y2.13)

HE Memo#Y2.13
24 February 2024

Thank you for attending the Administrators’ Meeting on 13 February and the School Forum on 16 February when Dr Czarina Saloma-Akpedonu, Dean of the School of Social Sciences, presented the idea of ‘digital days.’

Context
To summarize the context, a study is being done, headed by Dr Akpedonu, on the feasibility of having coordinated means for providing an option for online classes – specific ‘digital days’ when teachers and students uniformly go online, following the guidelines issued in my memo of 24 April 2023 with the subject “Teaching and Learning Arrangements for Undergraduate Classes, SY 2023-2024”: 90 learning hours with 45 contact hours, at least 30 hours of which are conducted onsite and the remainder are online synchronous classes. This is an alternative to the current practice of teachers individually scheduling their online classes following the same guidelines. 

The Study
Moving forward, the implementation of ‘digital days’ aims at promoting the optimum teaching and learning conditions in the Loyola Schools of the Higher Education Cluster. To evaluate the desirability and feasibility of the provision of days for online classes on designated “digital days,” a study is being conducted to collect data that will inform decision-making. The study aims to answer the following questions:

• What pedagogical benefits will the provision of designated digital days promote? 
• What other benefits will the provision of designated digital days yield?
• What are the challenges associated with implementing designated digital days, and how can these challenges be overcome? 

Dry Run
Part of the study is a dry run which is designated for these dates deemed suitable, based on consultations done with administrators, faculty, and students:  Friday, 15 March and Thursday, 4 April  2024.

Important Caveat
The 24 April 2023 memo specified “fully onsite classes as the primary mode of delivery.” Hence, the provision of designated digital days may not apply to faculty members who are already conducting fully onsite classes. It is meant for faculty members whose classes have an online synchronous component.

Please also note that course instructors discern the appropriate teaching and learning modality of the courses that they teach based on the curricular goals and intentions of such courses. So, while on designated digital days, the faculty members are meant to go online and work remotely, onsite classes and activities may still proceed onsite if these are required by the curricular objectives of the class. Assigned classrooms will remain available for use during digital days.

Moving Forward
I trust that you will cooperate in this study, specifically the dry run in March and in April.  Please bear in mind the important caveat as earlier described.

All the best as we continue to navigate a complex education terrain.