Most students under the new normal setup for learning have many issues in their journey to better education, particularly access to the internet.
Globe Telecom saw this as a hindrance so it made use of the most common, basic, yet stable, ubiquitous and affordable platform that Filipino students are most familiar with and very adept at using: SMS or Short Messaging Service, or simply called “text messaging,”
Globe partnered with Ugnay, a text learning course platform, in order to get closer to its mission of making quality education available to all, and to help the government reach out to as many learners as possible under the new normal,
Though it may have been neglected because of its limited capabilities, SMS proves to be useful for those who have limited or no access to internet services.
Ugnay is a simple remote learning tool for education reinforcement and may even serve as a better alternative to long e-Learnings and printed modules. It aims to deliver efficient, effective, and accessible learning content to a broader audience via SMS.
Since people spend most of the time on their phones, it makes text messaging the fastest and most effective tool to deliver information. Moreover, learning through text messages has a lot of benefits to offer. It is scalable and can reach up to thousands of learners without much effort. Text messages are also short by nature so the lessons are concise and easy to digest. It is also frictionless, which means less hassle in logging in and navigating through different screens’ pages.
“This pandemic heightened the need for distance learning but there are a lot of challenges – from the adjustments that have to be done by teachers and students to accommodate distance learning to the availability of content and limitations of accessing learning media that rely heavily on compatible devices and stable internet connection. This prompted us to look for ways to address these concerns,” Ariane Nava, Globe Head of Channel Governance and People Excellence.
With this platform, teachers and trainers can create and publish scheduled courses easily in just a few clicks. Learners can also pick a convenient time to receive daily micro-learning contents and assessments. The texts come with multiple-choice or short-answer questions graded at the backend automatically so teachers and trainers can monitor their students’ responses.
Globe has long been a strong advocate of quality education and has already launched a number of initiatives to support the education sector, ranging from teacher training programs, device and data donations and bundles for teachers and schools, and content creation, among others. It is also committed to 10 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals which includes UNSDG No. 4, ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.