From chalkboard to screen: how educators championed teaching through technology

Technology helped significantly bridge the gap between quality and conducive education before and after the pandemic. It allowed students to expand their knowledge and helped educators increase their efficiency.

To celebrate this feat and in accordance with National Teacher’s Month and World Teachers’ Day, Quipper, one of the leading edtech and LMS platforms in the Philippines, conducted the first-ever Quipper Super Teachers awards last October 13.

Among all the teachers who submitted their entries, three Quipper Super Teachers were selected—Alcher Arpilleda of St. Paul University-Surigao, Joselle Quizon of The Refiner’s Christian School, and Eliza Balaoro of Lyceum of Alcala. These teachers showcased excellent performance in utilizing technology and Quipper and upheld good relations with their students and the school’s stakeholders.

Their teaching experience helped shape who they are now and withstand challenges, making them Quipper Super Teachers.

Discovering passion in teaching

The recognized Quipper Super Teachers went on a long journey before becoming successful educators. Despite their differences in upbringing, they all had the same goal: to teach and inspire. Alcher Arpilleda, a Mathematics teacher for Grade 9 and handling various subjects for Senior High School (SHS) and College, his dream started because of his mother, sister, and some relatives, who are teachers.

Aside from that, he has always been fond of Mathematics since his elementary years. He even met great Mathematics teachers who also served as his role model in teaching the subject that every student avoids. He wants his students to realize the subject’s importance and make it easier for them to understand mathematical concepts.

He shared how his parents became instrumental in his decision to be a Mathematics teacher. They told him to share all his knowledge with the youth and inspire them to become successful someday. Now, he has been teaching for six years and has tirelessly made efforts to make Mathematics enjoyable for all his students.

For Eliza Balaoro, a teacher of Araling Panlipunan for Junior High School (JHS) and other general education subjects for SHS, becoming a teacher has always been her dream. Her initial plan was to teach music, but due to some circumstances, she chose to redirect her goals and teach Araling Panlipunan.

She was inspired by her Araling Panlipunan teacher, who taught her to not only learn the subject but also strive harder and do well in every challenge she encounters. From thereon, she studied hard and sought to become the best teacher she could be. As she enters her third year of teaching, she only wishes nothing but to improve her skills and continue to nurture her students.

The third Quipper Super Teacher, Joselle Quizon, has been an educator for almost six years of Sciences subject. Since she was a child, she dreamed of becoming a teacher. Everything that happened in her life led her to be the educator she is now. Despite moments when her surroundings pressured her to take other courses and venture into a new path, the world created ways to make her realize that teaching is her true calling in life.

She had to come to terms with reality. For her, teaching is an everyday hardship that she needs to surpass. “Every teaching day is a challenge because it gives you the burden of asking yourself, ‘Am I giving my students what they deserve?‘” Quizon said.

Arpilleda, Balaoro, and Quizon began their journey differently, but they all share the same aspirations: to provide conducive and effective learning for their students. Gladly, aiming for technology-driven and innovative teaching became their tool for reaching this goal.

Technology as their teaching companion

For the new Quipper Super Teachers, being an educator is their sworn duty they need to fulfill no matter what. To do that, they had to constantly adapt to changing times and learn to use helpful tools that could elevate their teaching methods. These tools, powered mainly by technology, became their companion and lifeline.

For Arpilleda, the online platform’s various features helped him improve his instruction methods and even personalize learning for all types of learners. For instance, the study guides are available offline and can be used for independent learning, allowing his students to study at their own pace.

He also uses ready-made presentations and integrates them into his lesson plan. He maximizes the QCreate Portal to create and upload his own content and activities to built-in resources and documents. The free worksheets from the platform also helped him elevate his teaching techniques, as these were used for enrichment and remediation activities.

“It was harder for me to create activities for different types of learners. However, the platform and technology helped lessen the burden of preparing learning exercises for the students,” Arpilleda said.

When the recent Typhoon Odette hit the province of Surigao del Norte and other parts of Mindanao, he also used the Quipper worksheets and study guides as his tools. It helped ensure that education remains unhampered, making learning possible in a modular distance learning modality.

Meanwhile, Balaoro, just started her teaching journey at the onset of the pandemic in 2020. It was challenging for her, especially since she had to recalibrate everything she learned and apply it to online learning setup. The good thing is that edtech tools helped her to continue providing effective and innovative education for her students.

“At first, my colleagues and I were reluctant. We had doubts that technology or even an LMS platform could provide conducive online learning for students. But we were proven wrong and were able to cater to the needs of the students. This also allowed us to provide quality education to the students amid the pandemic,” Balaoro shared.

These educators believed in the power of technology and how it can serve as a tool and a catalyst of change for education. Teachers will always be there for the students, and edtech tools can never replace their capabilities. But technology is shaping contemporary education that caters to all types of learners.

“For me, technology helped shape students to become the best 21^st-century learners. With these tools, they will be ready to explore the world,” Balaoro added.

Navigating the future of technology-driven education

The first-ever Quipper Super Teachers’ recipients hope to continue their sworn duty despite challenges. As they navigate their way to the education sector’s uncertain future, edtech providers like Quipper will be there to support them so they can give effective learning.

In partnership with OPPO, the awarding ceremony was conducted to recognize outstanding, innovative, and creative teachers who utilized technology and the Quipper LMS platform as a teaching tool to provide an engaging learning environment to their students. To further support the Quipper Super Teachers, they received an OPPO Pad Air, an OPPO A57, and OPPO Enco buds. The Quipper LMS, together with the OPPO devices will continue to provide an innovative and technology-driven education that will help elevate their teaching journeys and guide more students with future-ready skills.

The Quipper Super Teachers program culminates Quipper’s signature event called eQuippED, which celebrates teachers on National Teachers Month and World Teachers Day, for their passion for teaching and dedication to learning.

“Our current situation requires us, teachers, to be flexible. It measures our heart as to how far we can go with our profession and how much we are willing to sacrifice and give. This is a big responsibility. That is why feeling a bit lost is okay. However, we must have an open heart and mind to accept changes. There is no such thing as failure if we keep pushing forward,” Quizon reiterated.