The Lighthouse Diary #19: Volcano, Viruses and Vigilance

It is nearly a month since Taal volcano erupted.

Classes in our campus in Binan resumed last Tuesday, February 4 2020. I missed the campus dearly, the chatter and verve of our students, morning coffee with friends, consultations with colleagues and the predictable ebb and flow of work routines. I didn't realize how precious these things are to me until the three-week disruption of classes.

We are living in uncertain and dangerous times. Taal volcano can erupt, again, anytime. The recent outbreak of the 2019 n-CoV gives us reason to feel anxious and alert. We can only set up emergency measures and distribute information as well as advisory on the virus and the volcanic activities of Taal. Our school leadership and administration are doing their best to follow government sanctioned guidelines assuring everyone their safety and well-being. I, personally, cannot help but do my bit in collating resources and curating content, information and sources on viruses, volcanoes and constant acts of vigilance ( channel your inner Alastor Moody!).

In the midst of the uncertainty, I ask myself, what teaching methods can be designed and applied so that students are not only engaged but are aware of  the changing times? How will changes in the mode of instruction affect the delivery of library services and programs? The challenge to keep abreast with advancements in technology is already a tall order for many. Include volcanic eruption and viral outbreak in the mix and what do we have?

As I read and conduct my research on Blended Learning, I dig up two notable projects I had in my past life as librarian in Xavier School and in recent years as Teacher Librarian in the Beacon Academy.

During my Luceat Lux years, I teamed up with a Reading/Lang Arts teacher for the The Storylady Project:Telecollaboration. That was 2002. The summer before the academic year began, I attended a short course on Technology Integration at ADMU. Didith Tan Rodrigo was the teacher. Mobile learning and robotics were new ideas back then. A story conjured by futurists. I feel so ancient thinking about it now.

The project was pretty simple. It was similar to having pen pals in an online environment. Our grade seven students exchanged emails with students of the Edith Stein School in Durmstadt, Germany. 

The entire batch read The Diary of Anne Frank and the Reading teacher asked me about extension activities to broaden the boys' appreciation of the literature. He did not want another book report or field trip. So I recommended the email exchange project. At the time, many school libraries based off shore were experimenting on email technology as a way to learn language skills, strengthen citizenship in online environments and use information and communications technology wisely.

The Reading teacher thought it was a novel idea, so, we did it. It was in the academic year 2002-2003 when we took this risk. It became our breakthrough year.

Back in Beacon Academy.

It was 2012. I was on my second year and the BA Library was very young. Laying down the structure for a platform of online learning, I put together a Webquest and Pathfinder: A Teenager's Guide to A Meaningful Research. It sailed for one academic year but the ship did not return to its port of origin.

There are many reasons why it was so. For one, everybody was new and we were all learning Managebac so Wikispace.org was another technology to understand. A few years back, Wikispaces.org closed down and the entire content and online learning activities I put together went down with it. So now, I begin anew.

Technology taught me tenacity.