PLDT Enterprise, the B2B arm of the largest integrated telecommunications company in the Philippines, stressed the need for the adaption of creative education technologies, like “gamification” to better promote student engagement in eLearning.
During PLDT Enterprise’s eNDUSTRY Online Forum for eLearning, PLDT Enterprise Assistant Vice President and Corporate Relationship Management Head for Academe & FMCG Dick Perez said that while eLearning has been the top educational trend for the past year, it still requires continuous innovation for a more effective learning experience for the students.
“In eLearning, learners are just soaked in knowledge through viewing or reading content. The competition in the education industry now lies on which school have the more interesting and engaging digital platform,” he said.
Perez said that gamification, or the application of gaming principles in non-game contexts, could help keep learners engaged in online learning despite numerous distractions present in digital education.
“Gamification must be incorporated in eLearning because students want to have fun. The students are modern learners. They are busy people who are impatient and stressed from information overload,” he explained.
“We need to be creative in fostering student engagement, and gamification in eLearning can be remarkably effective as it offers a learning journey where students have fun as they learn.”
Moreover, Perez said that videos are also more effective in capturing the students’ attention compared to reading materials. He said that it allows easier comprehension of complex concepts and contributes to creating better relationships between educators and students.
“The use of videos is a trend which will continue for the years to come,” Perez added.
The PLDT Enterprise executive also reaffirmed the company’s commitment to assisting the education sector towards enabling various digital educational technologies.
Since August last year, PLDT Enterprise has been extending support to over 196 member schools of the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU) through providing affordable Smart GIGA Study Plans and curated services for e-Learning.
Dr. Anthony Jose Tamayo, President of PACU, mentioned how the pandemic forced the association to change their methods of teaching and learning for students. “We started to reinvent education, change business models, and courageously push for advocacies to make schools more agile, innovative, and responsive in the delivery of education.”
"Our learnings from 2020 have resulted to refined or better innovation of strategies and practices to align schools to the needs of students in this present disruption. Schools have learned to adapt to the better normal. The community learned how to overcome and bridge the barriers of communication and technology," Tamayo added.
PLDT Enterprise has been collaborating with global educational and technology companies to further fortify its solutions for the academe that help improve the students’ learning experience and enable reliable access to continuous learning.
“PLDT has always been in the forefront in helping the education sector to build a more resilient learning experience for an unbreakable response in the next normal,” said PLDT Enterprise Assistant Vice President and Head for Education, FMCG, SMBiz Enterprise Strategic Solutions John Combalicer.