The Department of Education (DepEd) has cited as a boon the addition of Globe eLibrary in the DepEd Commons, saying that it would expand its readily-available English subject materials and further enrich the distance learning experience of the Filipino learners.
DepEd Undersecretary for Administration Alain Del Pascua has nothing but good words for the inclusion of Globe eLibrary as one of the features of the agency’s open educational resources (OER) platform to support the implementation of distance learning, and address literacy gaps.
“DepEd Commons will consistently cater to the evolving and fast-changing needs of Filipino learners to meet whatever situation arises. We welcome this added feature as we aim to continuously develop our platform to better serve our learners and teachers,” Pascua said.
As Globe e-Library’s materials (https://globeelibrary.ph/) will be available on the DepEd Commons (commons.deped.gov.ph), it is expected that Filipino learners will improve their English reading and comprehension skills.
The e-Library contains English classic titles, age-appropriate storybooks, eLearning videos, and other resource materials that can be viewed online or downloaded for later use following the students’ lack of access to traditional libraries at the moment, the DepEd said.
“We want to promote the love of reading among the youth so they may achieve their full potential. Reading helps strengthen the brain and build vocabulary, and provides the needed mental exercise for a better understanding of the written word, especially a widely-used foreign language like English,” Globe Chief Sustainability Officer and Senior Vice President for Corporate Communications Yoly Crisanto said.
More than 10.5 million users nationwide have so far been served by DepEd Commons with 4,762 uploaded learning resources.
Pascua batted for the continued use of DepEd Commons as complementary in distance learning.
"In partnership with telecommunication companies and in cooperation with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), the access to the platform is free of data charge, even if users have no load,” the DepEd said.
Spearheaded by the Information and Communications Technology Service headed by Director Abram Y.C. Abanil, DepEd Commons is part of the Public Schools of the Future (PSOF) Framework of the Administration Strand under the leadership of DepEd Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones.