1
School Website for Learning Action Cell in Dalaguete Districts
George P. Lumayag, 2Jobel L. Antopina, 3Zenny Galera, 4Gina Aleonar,
corresponding authors
1
SST3, Dalaguete NHS, Pob., Dalaguete, Cebu; 2Teacher-In-Charge, Mangyan NHS, Sibonga, Cebu;
1
3Principal
1, Eastside Christian Academy, Carcar City; 4SST3, Upland Elem. School, Carcar City
Abstract
The aim of this action research paper is to enhance the K to 12 teachers in the
use of technology in teaching learning process through the DepEd Program: Learning
Action Cell (LAC) using the school website. This study was done to assess issues and
challenges in the implementation of LAC sessions in the secondary schools of
Dalaguete districts. The respondents were 38.31% out 192 teachers. Descriptive
statistics were utilized to analyze the data. Research findings revealed 59.38%
Secondary School Teacher 1; 25.00% SST3; 10.94% SST2; and 4.69% Master Teacher
1. Moreover, there were 59.38% teacher-respondents obtained Master of Arts units.
There were 35.94% who had been teaching from 1 to 5 years; 25.00% of them had
been teaching from 6-10 years; 21.88% of them had been teaching from 16 years and
above; and precisely, 17.19% of them had been teaching from 11 to 15 years. Teacherrespondents claimed that school facilities and equipment were moderately available.
And they claimed that the issues and challenges they met in the conduct of the LAC
sessions were moderately serious with a Weighted Mean value of 2.05. Statistically,
more than half (62.50 to 78.13%) of teacher-respondents didn’t interact their school
website considering that their schools have no WiFi boosters and Local Area
Networking was not installed to all buildings of their schools. And finally, they need the
relevant trainings specifically in the building of personal / departmental / school website.
The proposed training would help the school in the conduct of the LAC sessions using
the school website. Thus, it was recommended to adopt the proposed training program
in the building of school websites in Dalaguete districts.
Keywords: Information and Communications Technology (ICT); DepEd DalagueteDistricts’
School Websites; Descriptive Research; Dalaguete, Cebu, Philippines
I.INTRODUCTION
The world’s learning institutions are providing the virtual environments to people
around the globe. Professors, instructors, teachers, students, parents, and
professionals, even the unemployed individuals can browse a learning network like the
school website acts as a method of communication to the community, which is
important.Robin Thompson, Laurie Kitchie, Robert Gagnon (2011). School website in
the conduct of DepEd Learning Action Cell (LAC) Sessions is really very important for
neophyte teachers, experienced teachers, external resources, and administrators.
Action learning is linking concepts to illustrate that it is not merely a process, but a
dynamic interaction between professional learning, communities, leadership and
change.Peter Aubusson, Robyn Ewing, Garry Hoban (2012).
2
In the United States of America, the education department develops and
produces instructional materials, books, and manuals showing different strategies for
effective teaching…. a number of options suitable for each subject matter and situation,
and are useful references for individual teachers and for learning action cell
sessions.United States. Dept. of Education. Office of Policy and Planning (1992). In the
Learning Action Cell (LAC) session, professional development of teachers is the core
value of the school… in a regular forum for collaborative action planning and review in
addressing instructional/supervisory concerns, UNESCO Principal Regional Office for
Asia and the Pacific (1991).
The State shall establish, maintain and support a complete, adequate, and
integrated system of education relevant to the needs of the people, the country and
society-at-large. (Republic Act No. 10533)
DepEd institutionalizes Learning Action Cells (LACs) that aim to develop and
support successful teachers by nurturing their knowledge, attitudes, and competencies
in terms of curriculum, instruction, and assessment in their work stations. (DepEd
Order No. 35, s. 2016)
Learning Action Cell (LAC) sessions, should be conducted at least once a
month. Interactions may also be done through ICT when it is difficult to have face-toface sessions, particularly when involving clustered schools. There is a need to
prioritize the building of school website for LAC Sessions because in using the school
website, the possible issues and concerns could be technically assisted using the
computer aided online collaborations and thus, this is the support system for teachers
who are tasked to deliver basic education, which is the core business of DepEd.
(DepEd Order No. 35, s. 2016) So, therefore, the objective of this action research is to
develop the school website using the free subdomain for DepEd Learning Action Cell
(LAC) sessions in Dalaguete districts.
This study is anchored from Media Naturalness Theory (Ned Kock (2005) cited
in (Kelsey, Sigrid, 2012), Jean Piaget’s Principle Goal of Education (TIMOTHY CHRIS
OBERG 2008), Burn’s Transformational Leadership Theory, that “….transformational
leadership must be grounded in moral foundations,” (Leithwood, as cited in Cashin et
al., 2000) and cited in (Mark C. Bojeun, Ph.D., 2014). This is strengthened by the
Department of Education through DepEd Order No. 35, s. 2016 entitled THE
LEARNING ACTION CELL (LAC) AS A K TO 12 BASIC EDUCATION PROGRAM
SCHOOL-BASED CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR
THE IMPROVEMENT OF TEACHING AND LEARNING. And this action research would
gather first the issues and concerns in relation to the areas: improving access to
education; improving the quality of education; and improving governance (DepEd Order
No. 43, s. 2015). Then, the proposed school website shall be developed in order to
technically deliver the objectives of the Learning Action Cell.
3
II.MATERIALS AND METHODS/RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In this study the issues and challenges in the conduct of the Learning Action Cell
(LAC) are the variable of interests. A transmittal letter was forwarded to DepEd Schools
Division Superintendent of Cebu Province and then, to the principals or teacher-incharge of the selected secondary schools of Dalaguete districts, namely: Casay
National High School, Cawayan National High School, Dalaguete National High School,
and Mantalongon National High School.
This study utilized the Descriptive Survey Method to explore issues and
challenges in the conduct of the Learning Action Cell (LAC) sessions using the school
website of the randomly selected 64 teacher-respondents out of 192 total population of
teachers in the selected secondary schools of Dalaguete Districts. Two (2) types of
research questionnaires were used, the online submission template on this link at
http://www.georgelumayag.com/school-website-for-lac-sessions-in-dalaguetedistrict.html and the one (1) page Assessment Survey Form for teacher-respondents.
Frequencies, percentages, and Weighted Arithmetic Mean (e.g. f x x=fx;
fx1+fx2+fx3=TWP; TWP/n=Mean)(f is the frequency; x is the point scale value; TWP is
the Total Weighted Points; n is the number of sample respondents) were then used in
presenting quantitative data. All of the data were gathered, tabulated, presented,
analyzed and interpreted.
Fig. 1. Location Map of Research Environment Respondents
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III.RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Out of 104 teachers from Dalaguete NHS, there were 32 (30.77%) teacherrespondents; out of 50 teachers of Mantalongon NHS, there were 16 (32.00%) teacherrespondents; out of 24 teachers from Casay NHS, there were 8 (33.33%); and out of 14
teachers from Cawayan NHS, there were 8 (57.14%) teacher-respondents.
Table 1 Information of the Selected Schools and Gender of Respondents
Respondents
N
n
%
Gender
f
n
%
104
50
24
14
32
16
8
8
30.77
32
33.33
57.14
Female
Male
46
18
64
64
71.88
28.13
192
64
38.31
Dalaguete NHS
Mantalongon NHS
Casay NHS
Cawayan NHS
TOTAL
64
100
Among the randomly selected secondary school teacher-respondents, there
were 18 or (28.13%) male; and 46 or (71.88%) female.
Table 2 Information of the Teacher-Respondents
Teaching Positions
Educational
Attainment
Yrs. of Teaching
Experience
Variable
f
n
%
Variable
%
Variable
%
SST1
38
64
59.38
BS w/ M.A. units
59.38
1-5 yrs.
35.94
SST3
16
64
25
BS Grad
25
6-10 Yrs.
25
SST2
MT1
7
3
64
64
10.94
4.69
M.A. Grad
Doctoral units
Full-fledged doctor
9.38
4.69
1.56
16 yrs. & above
11 to 15 yrs.
21.88
17.19
TOTAL
64
100
100
100
Regardless of schools, there were there 38 or 59.38% Secondary School
Teacher 1; 16 or 25.00% SST3; 7 or 10.94% SST2; and 3 or 4.69% Master Teacher 1.
Moreover, there were 59.38% teacher-respondents obtained Master of Arts units, and
there was one (1) Teacher-In-Charge with teaching loads who was a full-fledged doctor
(Dev. Ed. D.). Among of teacher-respondents, there were 35.94% who had been
teaching from 1 to 5 years; 25.00% of them had been teaching from 6-10 years; 21.88%
of them had been teaching from 16 years and above; and precisely, 17.19% of them
had been teaching from 11 to 15 years.
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Table 3 School Facilities and Equipment
Parameter
Computer Laboratory
Multi-purpose Covered Court
Computer tables and chairs
WiFi Modems and Routers with Internet Connections
Computer systems in the network
Projectors
Ventilation and air-conditioning
Printers
Science Laboratory
School Library
Scanners
Others
Comfort Room
TOTAL
TWP
WM
Description
178
165
159
157
150
150
141
136
134
89
87
72
71
2.78
2.58
2.48
2.45
2.34
2.34
2.2
2.13
2.09
1.39
1.36
1.13
1.11
Very Available
Very Available
Very Available
Very Available
Very Available
Very Available
Moderately Available
Moderately Available
Moderately Available
Less Available
Less Available
Less Available
Less Available
2.03
Moderately Available
Table 3 generally shows that teacher-respondents claimed that school facilities
and equipment were moderately available in the selected secondary schools of
Dalaguete Districts. This finding is similar to the findings of the (University of Nigeria,
Nsukka. Centre for Academic Research and Publication Initiative for the Advancement
of Human Knowledge, 2008) that state most of the infrastructural facilities and
equipment are just moderately available in primary schools. The implication for this is
that schools in the Philippines have constructed and secured the needed facilities and
equipment. The top six (6) parameters such as Computer Laboratory, Multi-purpose
Covered Court, computer tables and chairs, WiFi modems and routers with internet
connections, computer systems in the network, and projectors were very much available
in the selected schools wherein these facilities and equipment were very much needed
in the conduct of Learning Action Cell sessions inside and outside the computer
laboratory for a bigger number of participants. However, in the parameter, Others,
teacher-respondents claimed that WiFi Booster, CCTV Cameras, Speech Laboratory,
lavatory, urinals, LED TV in every classroom, water tank, Conference Room were less
available in the schools with a Weighted Mean of 1.13 in which these were issues that
shall have to be addressed because these could help facilitate smooth instructional
process in educating students. Furthermore, the very less available was the Comfort
Room in every classroom with the Weighted Mean of 1.11. This issue could not really
affect in the conduct of the LAC session especially if the school has an official website
wherein ICT LAC Activity Cards are published online. The LAC participant could easily
recover himself or herself to the ICT Instructional activities set for the two (2) hour LAC
session. But if we value time management, self-comfort, and self-convenience, a
Comfort Room shall be available inside the venue or computer laboratory or to the
classroom because this is a part of the school development plan.
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Table 4 Issues and Challenges Met
Parameter
TWP
n
WM
Description
Time constraints or conflict of time schedules
164
64
2.56
Very Serious
Lack of printed learning materials
151
64
2.36
Very Serious
Lack of downloadable instructional materials
150
64
2.34
Very Serious
Lack of wide television set
148
64
2.31
Moderately Serious
Lack of equipment such as photocopier
145
64
2.27
Moderately Serious
Lack of LAC Resource persons (External/Internal)
127
64
1.98
Moderately Serious
Shyness in oral discussions on issues, challenges
and principles of good teaching
126
64
1.97
Moderately Serious
Lack of
approach
112
64
1.75
Moderately Serious
110
64
1.72
Moderately Serious
80
64
1.25
Less Serious
2.05
Moderately Serious
peer-to-peer
mentoring
(face-to-face
Lack of projector to be used
Others
TOTAL
Table 4 generally shows that teacher-respondents claimed the issues and
challenges met in the conduct of the LAC sessions were moderately serious with a
Weighted Mean value of 2.05. They claimed the top three (3) parameters such as (1)
“Time constraints or conflict of time schedules”, (2)“Lack of printed learning materials”
(Antoni Verger, Hulya K. Altinyelken, Mario Novelli - 2012), and (3) “Lack of
downloadable instructional materials” were very serious. The No. 2 finding is similar to
the findings of (Antoni Verger et.al. 2012) that state the limited supply of printed
materials, the inadequacy of the school budget allocation for the purchase of learning
aids. The implication for these issues denotes financial capability of the school, now
these can be allocated in the Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOEA) as
stipulated in DepEd Order 13, s. 2016 Well, aside from financial matters, a good
intervention for these issues is the building of official school website that would provide
teachers downloadable files and easy-accessed links for them to use in their teaching
instructions. These downloadable files are also the suitable replacements of the printed
learning materials wherein teachers can easily modify such files instead of retyping the
contents of the documents. When it comes to the issue “Time constraints or conflict of
time schedules” in the conduct of the LAC sessions, the best approach to solve such
issue is the development of the official school website wherein they can download the
ICT LAC Activity Cards anytime and anywhere. With the use of the official school
website, the online conduct of the LAC session will be done anytime and could be
participated by teachers who are willing to learn the virtual environment of pursuing the
LAC sessions through the use of the official school website to enhance teachers’ skills
in the use of ICT resources in their teaching learning process. However, the parameter
Others which were less serious for teacher-respondents with a Weighted Mean value of
1.25 would still be considered issues. This parameter specifies “Electronic outputs or
7
online outputs are needed”, “Lack of time or opportunity to practice”, “Availability of the
teachers”, “The classroom is not conducive for learning due to no electricity”, “No proper
training on LAC”, and “No internal resource persons”. All of these issues excluding an
issue, “The classroom is not conducive for learning due to no electricity” were precisely
less serious. But these could still be addressed when the schools have its official
websites wherein could link other credible school sites that shared their downloadable
files and reliable links for teaching instructions.
Table 5 Availability of Official School Website
Parameter
YES
f
n
NO
%
f
n
%
Downloaded ICT Activity Cards from school website
14 64 21.88 50 64 78.13
Used school website in the conduct of LAC Sessions
18 64 28.13 46 64 71.88
Confirmed school has official website
24 64 37.50 40 64 62.50
Browsed school website
24 64 37.50 40 64 62.50
This table shows that there were 50 or 78.13% teacher-respondents stressed
that they did not download ICT Activity Cards from their school website; 46 or 71.88%
of respondents claimed that their school website was not used in the conduct of the
Learning Action Cell (LAC) Sessions; 40 or 62.50% of respondents stressed that their
school has no official website; and that same number, 40 or 62.50% of respondents
claimed they did not browse their school website. Among the 40 teacher-respondents,
there were eight (8) of them from Cawayan National High School confirmed that they
really didn’t have the school website in the school year, 2016-2017. This finding is not
similar to the findings of Parsad, B., and Jones, J. (2005) that state nearly 100 percent
of public schools were connected to the Internet in 2003,14 schools generally had the
capability to make information available to parents and students directly via e-mail or
through a website. The implication of these results would encourage to DepEd
educators to develop the school and department websites. In building the school
website is very easy using the free subdomain. e.g. http://dnhs6022.weebly.com/ for the
school; and http://dnhs-eclassroom.weebly.com/ for the department website. These
websites had availed the free subdomain of Weebly.com, a U.S. based server-provider.
8
Table 6 Proposed Training
Parameter
YES
NO
Training in Website Development
96.88
3.13
Online Collaborations in Sharing of Pedagogical Concerns
84.38
15.63
The last table shows that there were 62 or 96.88% teacher-respondents claimed
that they really needed the training in developing a website or a personal website; and
positively, there were 54 or 84.38% of teacher-respondents claimed that they really
needed online collaborations in sharing of pedagogical concerns. The finding of this
proposed training agrees to the idea shared by Douglas K. Van Duyne, James A.
Landay, Jason I. Hong (2007) that states “The World Wide Web is no longer a novelty.
To many companies and organizations, the Web is a necessity, the foundation of their
business.” The implication of this finding reflects to the intensity of teachers’ willingness
to enhance their skills and to prepare themselves in the globally designed virtual
environment of modern teaching.
IV. CONCLUSION
In the selected secondary schools of Dalaguete Districts, the teacherrespondents claimed that school facilities and equipment were moderately available
especially in the conduct of the Learning Action Cell (LAC) sessions.
However, the issues and challenges met by teacher-respondents in the conduct
of the Learning Action Cell (LAC) Sessions were considered as very serious.
Statistically, more than half (62.50 to 78.13%) of teacher-respondents didn’t
interact their school website considering that their schools had no WiFi boosters and
Local Area Networking was not installed to all buildings of their schools. And there was
one school hadn’t developed the school website. It is further concluded that the schools
did not declare their official website.
And finally, the teacher-respondents need the relevant trainings specifically in the
building of personal / departmental / school website. The proposed training would help
the school in the conduct of the LAC sessions using the school website. And this
training program shall become a better benchmark to other national high schools in
Cebu Province so that junior and senior high school teachers become competitive
enough in the utilization of ICT in their teaching instructions and ready for the ASEAN
Integration.
V. RECOMMENDATION
Based from the findings of this action research, it is recommended for that
DepEd Secondary Schools of Dalaguete Districts may accept the utilization of online
collaborations for the Learning Action Cell (LAC) sessions and try to enhance teachers
in the use of ICT resources in their teaching instructions.
It is further recommended that DepEd Cebu Province Division may approve the
teachers’ training-workshops in the Development of School/Department Website for
LAC Sessions.
9
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VII. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The researchers are thankful to the CTU Systems, headed by the University
President Dr. Rosein A. Ancheta, Jr., to the CTU Argao-Campus Director, Dr. Juanita P.
Pinote, to the Dean of the Graduate School, Dr. Anesito L. Cutillas, to the CTU-ArgaoCampus Director in Research and Development, Dr. Hemres M. Alburo, to the
Superintendent of DepEd Cebu Province, Dr. Rhea Mar Angtud, CESO VI, to the
Principal IV of Dalaguete NHS, Mr. Roger D. Banogbanog, to his assistant principal, Mr.
Emeliano Bustamante, to the administrator of Casay NHS, Dr. Roberto D. Moran, to the
administrator of Cawayan National High School, Dr. Roldan C. Rosales, to the Principal
I of Mantalongon NHS, Mr. Robert Ceniza and to the Faculty members of the selected
schools of Dalaguete districts.