INNOVATIVE REMOTE TRANSACTIONS: ACADEMICS AND GUIDANCE SERVICES MADE POSSIBLE
Dr. Ma. Eva M. Hilay
High School Principal, JBLCF-Bacolod
(This article features the innovative practices adopted by the Basic Education Department of JBLCF-Bacolod at the height of COVID-19 pandemic when face-to-face restrictions were implemented.)
Background
The World Health Organization (WHO) (2021) declared Coronavirus disease, also known as Covid-19, a global state of emergency on January 30, 2020, and a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. To reduce the spread of this life-threatening virus, specific limitations and rules such as travel restrictions and prevention of face-to-face education have been imposed. Distance education implementations have been used to reduce contact and continue education (Özüdoğru, 2021). During the Covid-19 pandemic, institutions, administrators, educators, students, and even parents have caught themselves unprepared for the distance education process under the New Normal.
Hence, changes in customer expectations and behaviors, the digital transformation disruption, and workforce changes, like the move to working virtually, accelerated the intensity of challenges that educational institutions like the John B. Lacson Colleges Foundation-Bacolod (JBLCF-Bacolod) have faced since 2020.
Objectives
Generally, the initiative aims to clarify issues and concerns, communication purposes, and directions toward accomplishing certain tasks. Specifically, it has the following objectives.
In the absence of physical delivery and receipt of information, the Basic Education Department was challenged by how transactions among its stakeholders will be controlled and how to keep the communications active and relevant for the interested parties. And thus, making options on these pressing issues was well thought-out. The Basic Education Department opted to center communication mechanisms on Web applications such as Facebook and access links using Google forms. It is their accessibility and popularity in usage that they were considered as alternative ways to establish and maintain connections with the interested parties for updates and information dissemination. This innovative practice anchors on Communication Theory as its framework.
Process of Innovation
The innovation primarily operates according to the following procedure:
On the Facebook groups, students, parents, and employees received reminders, announcements, updates, and other pertinent information. These groups were created for the students per section or class, for the Homeroom Parents and Teachers Association, for the General Parents and Teachers Association Officers, for the Teachers, for the Staff, and the Professional Learning Committee.
Through the access links, students and parents applied for requests for school records/certificates and other related documents and appointments for guidance services. The students also used the links to evaluate their teachers and subjects and by the teachers to submit academic and behavioral referrals and attendance monitoring needed for Student Form 2 as required by the Department of Education.
Methodology
To answer Objective 3, which is to evaluate the level of importance and significance of the utilization of the different channels of remote transactions, a descriptive research design was employed. It is because the study wanted to describe the level of importance and satisfaction of the online mechanism implemented by the Basic Education Department. The study included 271 (76.34%) senior high school students, 190 (53.52%) parents, and 22 (100%) employees of the Basic Education Department as respondents.
To gather the needed data, a researcher-made research instrument was used. Experts were requested to examine its validity and reliability.
Due to limitations and restrictions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, data-gathering was made online, utilizing different applications. The questions were encoded in Google Forms, and the link to the questionnaire was sent to the respondents through Facebook messenger accounts and pages. The responses were retrieved from Google Forms, tallied, and tabulated using Microsoft Excel.
To determine the level of importance and satisfaction of the respondents on different online transactions mechanism offered by the Basic Education Department, Mean was used.
Results
The results show that on the level of importance of the use of remote transaction mechanism, the interested parties find it very important, and on the level of satisfaction, they are all very satisfied.
Benefits of the Innovation
Considering the results of the evaluation, it can be said that the respondents find the remote transactions very important and that they are very satisfied with the said practice. Below are the benefits of the innovation.
Recommendations
Based on the comments provided by the respondents, the following are the recommendations.
Lastly, the UNICEF and Saavedra (2020) said that:
Acknowledgment
Heartfelt appreciation goes to the following school personnel, students, and parents for their trust, support, and cooperation. Above all, to God almighty for the strength and wisdom.
Engr. Roberto Neal S. Sobrejuanite, School Administrator
Dr. Emeliza T. Estimo, Unit Research Coordinator
Mr. Jun C. Montaño, Faculty
Mr. Prayer Joy O. Sanchez, Faculty
Ms. Edgie B. Camento, Faculty and High School Coordinator
Students, Parents, Teachers, and Staff of the Basic Education Department
Appendices
Attached are some significant tables showing the results of the evaluations conducted:
