In December, I joined an essay writing contest hosted by Quipper Southern Mindanao. Quipper is an e-learning platform that originated in Japan. It provides powerful features for teachers, students, and parents, and is easy to use. It has been used by schools in Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Mexico.
Here’s the excerpt of my essay.
One thing that I always consider in using a digital learning platform, aside from security, is the User Interface (UI) – the look and feel of the application. Looking at Quipper‘s UI for the first time has amazed me. It is not only intuitive but also efficient. In minutes, I was able to learn how to navigate the platform. Also, students quickly became proficient with the dashboard a day or two after introducing it to them. The user-friendly interface made my students focus on their learning rather than navigating the platforms in and out. Instantly, the experience head over heels. Quipper is a complete package and ahead of its time in delivering digital, updated content aligned with the Department of Education standards.
Creating a borderless classroom
I began implementing a blended learning approach in my classroom then. As a result, there was an increase in students’ engagement and participation in class discussions and activities. As a teacher, it is imperative to understand how our students learn. Students right now, being a GenZ, have different learning profiles, styles, and needs. Providing them a platform to access content 24/7, I personalized their learning and addressed the learning gap. In a short time, I created a borderless classroom where students can learn anytime, anywhere.
Quipper‘s rich digital content focuses on authentic and relevant learning that provides students with choice and voice. It also allowed me to focus on the more essential aspects of the classroom, such as student engagement and immediate feedback. Moreover, the platform incorporates student self-assessment to master content allowing students to retake the quiz and review previous lessons. Furthermore, the platform provides a correct explanation in each question when taking a quiz or an assignment. These help students improve performance and of course, do more.
Aside from bringing up-to-date content, Quipper’s statistics and assignment analysis features are tools that you’ll never want to miss out on as a teacher. The ability to look into each student’s performance on assignments, quizzes and examinations allowed me to adjust and further tailor my lessons. It also enabled me to offer support and help to those students who are struggling. These empowered me to decide to move to the next lesson or design more activities to understand and master the content altogether. I had benefitted from all these in the free account. Subscribing to the premium version made it more interesting—more functionalities and features were unlocked.
Resilience in times of the Pandemic
When the COVID-19 pandemic strike, it made clear that technology and learning management systems are essentials in the classroom. Educational institutions looked for more effective ways to ensure the continuation of learning for all students.
Our school is no different; we examined the best ways to connect with students remotely and explore numerous educational models to meet our students’ needs. With Quipper on our side, we were able to keep the learning going. Transitioning from blended to full remote online education was seamless.
Quipper is very flexible and efficient in any learning model, such as blended, hybrid, or fully remote learning. It provides student-centered approaches that meet diverse learners’ needs. My students could download the student guide, which is not available in the free version, and view it offline. It is perfect for students with a slow or intermittent internet connection. For my students with different learning styles, the video lectures accommodated their learning differences and needs giving them more time to focus on the subject’s core concepts. Quipper is available in the web browser and as an Android app, making it much more accessible to students eliminating accessibility issues.
Preparing lesson plans and class materials, aside from checking papers, are the most challenging work in a teacher’s life. And during this pandemic, conducting classes remotely online has become a burden to all as well. Despite this, I have managed well with the help of the ready-made teaching guides, worksheets, presentations, and assessments readily provided by Quipper on its platform. When no content for students is available, I can easily create it with its Q-Create tool. This creation tool allowed me to embed videos, upload photos, audio, pdf document, Word document, and PowerPoint presentations aside from the rich-text formatting feature embedded already in the platform.
Apart from the assignment and quiz features mentioned earlier, administering online examination is also stress-free. Quipper allows time-bounded assessments and caching in case your net is temporarily down. You can also create essay assignments to elicit, share thoughts and opinions, and promote student’s voice in the classroom.
Another promising feature of Quipper is its inclusion of a parent platform. Keeping parents in the loop by providing an app that allows real-time viewing of students’ progress is ideal, especially in this pandemic. The parent app platform supports robust communication and oversight between home and school, promoting more parent-to-teacher collaboration.
Beyond the great features of Quipper’s offering for the students, teachers, and parents, I believe the most important, is its untiring customer support staff. Unlike other e-learning solutions providers out there, Quipper’s customer support is exceptional. Regardless of the time, you can contact them for support and get a prompt reply. When I needed help transferring a student account from our main campus to our branch, the tech support has done right away. The support staff will even walk you through the step-by-step instructions if you don’t know how to access a particular feature. Furthermore, you can see them visit the campus regularly, offering assistance, and keeping you updated.
Being a 21st-century teacher
I know that it is now more important than ever to create an interdisciplinary approach to learning. Using Quipper, for five years, as a learning management system enables me to help students develop future-ready skills, building them to become problem-solvers, innovators, inventors, and logical thinkers. Training them to be self-reliant, instilling initiative, and self-motivation to learn at their own time and space will help them gain confidence as they set and work in the future. As a teacher, I need to create a learning environment that enriches the mind, sparks creativity, and promotes students’ voices by providing experiences, tools that support interdisciplinary and activity-based learning, therefore empowering them to reach their full potential.
Have you used Quipper in your classroom? Comment your experiences below.
