I Finished a SEAIETI Course

My certificate

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I read these characters on the screen with a smile on my face on the night of March 25th. I wanted to scream, but I contained my emotion as my parents just entered the house to sleep. I was on our terrace at that time with my laptop. I pressed the navy blue button with a ribbon icon and waited for less than five seconds for the downloaded material to finish. I opened the file and I saw my name in the digital copy of the certificate of participation given by the Southeast Asian Institute Educational Training, Inc (SEAIETI). I immediately grabbed my phone, took a photo of it and shared the good news on Facebook. 

After a month of participating, I was able to finish Education in the Virtual Environment, an international online training program created by SEAIETI. I consider it as my biggest achievement so far this year as I received the opportunity made possible by the Department of Education through the National Educators Academy of the Philippines to enroll in the program. From thousands of teachers in our schools division office, I was one of the selected participants. Based on one of the speakers during the orientation program, the course can be taken up for less than a month. Actually, it can be finished in five days. What took me for a month to end it? 

Story time. 

All the participants were informed about the virtual orientation scheduled February 19, 2022. The teachers of Region 1 where I belong were slated at 8 AM together with the participants from Region 2. Saturday morning came and I joined the Zoom meeting while riding in a car my family rented. My father was scheduled for his medical treatment. I need to join my mother in accompanying my father in his session. There were times the Internet connection became intermittent traversing our way to our destination. Thanks to my headset, I obtained information from the virtual event. However, I missed some parts, which is why I asked the learning service provider to give me access to the recorded meeting. They responded to my request and granted it. They are really accommodating. I can attest to that as they are patient responding to my text messages a year ago. 

Supposedly, the course was given last year. I asked them about the progress. They were courteous addressing my query. Based on the text message, they said that they are waiting for the advice of NEAP about when the course will be offered. After a year, they are given the signal to cater the program. They mentioned the reason for the change of schedule. Moreover, they informed us about how they enhanced the program. They wanted us to make an impact after finishing the course. We are encouraged to do demonstration teaching applying the concepts we learned. 

We were taught how to enroll in the course last February 21. I successfully enrolled myself and studied the features of the site. But, I did not take the course that day. I was busy preparing modules and learning plans for the third quarter, and checked papers and other outputs as the 2nd quarter was about to end. It was a hectic week that I put the course in the last part of my to-do list as there are things I need to do or deliver urgently. 

I had the chance to start my learning on February 23. I answered the beginning part of the pretest. I stopped answering the questions and I answered all the parts on February 26. I remember that I was in the cottage facing the quiet sea, studying. Our whole family stayed with my relatives living by the sea. The bar began to fill in and check marks were appearing. 

As respect to the course provider, I am not going to divulge all the information I garnered from the course. What I can tell is there are video lessons to watch and activities to comply with. I have my notebook where I wrote the important concepts/ terminologies that might appear in the tests. 

There were quizzes/ activities that I passed easily, but there was one quiz that I attempted several times. I had a hard time answering it. Having these can exercise my mind. I really need these to sharpen my mind and to strengthen my critical thinking skills. 

As an ICT coordinator, some topics in the program are familiar to me. Thanks to the initiatives of DepEd in helping us to be teachers of the future. The department is ardent on attaining digital rise in the field of education. But, there are new things I learned such as the Internet of Things. I realized that I have things to learn, and there is a lot of work to do to make myself keep with the time. 

I had a weekly reminder of my progress. Receiving the emails would make me hustle to finish the course. I study after my classes and during the weekend. I need to multitask. After weeks working on it, I was able to download my certificate. It was laborious but fun. I learned a lot. Now I am trying to submit my demonstration teaching video. I hope I can beat the deadline. 

I am grateful that I had this opportunity to learn under the sponsorship of NEAP. Finishing the training program in the time of pandemic is a big feat. I survived the challenge. I have another challenge to face. I need to apply what I learned especially that we are now back to physical classes. I need to make sure that I can teach whatever circumstances I am in whether in virtual or face-to-face classes.