by Jasmine Isabella S. Rogel
Pursuant to University guidelines and restrictions on on-site classes, the College of Commerce and Business Administration will conduct the First Term of A.Y. 2020–2021 entirely online starting August 13, 2020.
FILE PHOTO: Students attend the Classroom Orientations in the St. Raymond de Peñafort Building on August 5, 2019
Classes will be delivered via asynchronous and synchronous means through the UST Cloud Campus. As recommended by the College, collaborative meetings will be twice a month at minimum.
In an email conversation with the Commerce Journal (CJ), College Secretary Al Faithrich Navarrete, Ph.D. emphasized that classes will not be completely dependent on synchronous sessions given that some students do not have access to reliable internet speeds. “[C]ourses are being designed to not fully depend on synchronous classes since we acknowledge that not everyone has [a] stable internet connection,” he wrote.
Dr. Navarette also said that more consideration will be given to students’ fulfillment of output-based expectations while policies for online attendance are still being finalized. “For online classes, rather than attendance, output will be prioritized. While we are still finalizing the policies for attendance [for online classes in the First Term], definitely, we will only monitor attendance for synchronous classes,” he added.
Furthermore, online sessions may also be recorded so that students can review their discussions at a later time. “Classes may be recorded so students [can] refer back [to their lectures] later on,” Dr. Navarette said.
Course instructors will also be able to take advantage of platform alternatives such as Google Meet, Facebook Messenger, and Zoom to supplement their class discussions. Meanwhile, students can communicate their academic concerns, such as requests for make-up classes, with their respective professors through their official UST Gmail accounts.
As part of attendance, General Education (GE) and Professional Courses require students to be in the prescribed uniform during synchronous classes. In contrast to GE courses, some Professional Courses will require their students to be in corporate attire for online class presentations.
As advised by the College, the grading scheme will follow pre-quarantine measures. Students will no longer be able to incur a mark of ‘In Progress’ (INP) originally imposed during the Second Term of A.Y. 2019–2020 that was in line with the University's post-ECQ continuity plan.
The First Term will conclude in December 2020. As of publication, an exact date for the end of the semester is yet to be announced by the College.
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