I am not targeting anyone. Not the professors or the teachers. Not even the education department but the Idea itself.
I am one of the lucky students who have a just about right stability on our internet because I live in the city but most of my classmates live in the Province and as I see and hear them get anxious about the stability of their wifi, mobile data or pocket wifi during synchronous classes, I can't help but be reminded how lucky I am.
Here in the Philippines, the most renowned internet service provider is the Philippine Long Distance Telephone aka PLDT. They have the wildest coverage thus covering both urban and rural areas. They offer prepaid and postpaid internet for their fiber, phone bundle and home wireless connections which I have no personal idea how efficient it works but based on what I see on the social media, PLDT lacks a strong connection compared to what they promised to the users. Globe is the biggest threat to PLDT. It is the rushing to defeat PLDT our of its throne by further expanding and developing their internet speed. The third is Converge which holds the title for the fastest internet connection provider here today. This is the nationwide provider of fiber internet which is said to be best for gaming and streaming. Well, just last night I witnessed my brother almost breaking his phone because of our internet 'lagging' or whatever. Therefore, I cannot agree to it all the way.
These established internet providers have their own unique selling points and capabilities but for us users, what matters most is the speed that is relevant to the price we paid for. But do they deliver? Not really surpassing what we wish for.
Students are not the only ones susceptible to slow internet connection but even the professors so both sides apologize for the turtle speed of their internet. That is fine and okay but the moment the students experienced it during an online quiz with time limit, it is a huge burden only the consideration of the teachers can lift up.
Personally, when it happened to me, I felt cold trying to figure out what I can do to pass my quiz on time. I realized that if you have a stable wifi, you cannot really be sure that it will remain stable at all times and what happened to me was scary and good thing, my prof is very considerate but the second time it happened to my other classmate, the prof got mad saying that it is not his fault and as students, we need to have a back up plan when contingency happens.
A few days ago, another student died because of suicide and it is because of not being able to pass his module on time and being reprimanded because of it. It is heartbreaking to be honest. I may not know him personally but I can relate to him. It is really a slap to a student not being able to pass the requirements on time especially if they worked hard for it. But what can we do? We do not handle the speed of our internet.
We can only just apologize for it and hope that we are understood. No matter how we demand for a faster internet connection, we can never control when it will have its glitches and lags.
Compassion and consideration are really powerful characteristic we must have during this new normal. If the other side of the line gets choppy and disconnected, we have to understand. This is the only key we can have to overcome turtle net and struggles of online learning and working.
A very good question. For many hours a day we have no connection at all. If the speed is about 20 kbps. It's not even enough for sending a WhatsApp. Homeschooling is stress because of it. It takes us way more hours plus driving to town to try to find a better connection. Although teachers asked about the situation they do not care. Why not sending all work for a week, check it instead of being present whole day on online to check if you are really there? How come providers aren't forced to provide in a good connection? Why do schools not stick to the government's rules and only use the sites for educations which doesn't cost any data? Instead the student is blamed and receives bad notes.