Malayan Colleges Laguna offers ‘flux’ courses

CABUYAO CITY — This month, Malayan Colleges Laguna, A Mapúa School launches the Flexible Learning Ubiquitous Experience, or “MCL FLUX,” courses that allow students to choose whether to attend classes face-to-face or online synchronously or asynchronously. The MCL FLUX course format is an instructional approach that combines face-to-face and online learning. Each class session and learning activity is offered in-person, synchronously online and asynchronously online. Students can decide for each class or learning module how to participate. On-site classes can be threatened by climate change, natural disasters (including tropical depression, floods, and earthquakes), health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and other disruptions. When campus reopens, students still face a range of uncertainties surrounding health and safety, financial concerns, and travel issues, among others. The MCL FLUX model will maintain educational and research activities as the circumstances of a given disruption or personal concerns unfold. It also allows students to choose different learning modalities that work better depending on proximity to campus, work and family commitments, and other factors. In MCL FLUX courses, students can choose from one of three participation paths:

1. Participate in face-to-face class sessions in-person (in a classroom).
2. Participate in face-to-face class sessions via video conference (Zoom and MS Teams).
3. Participate fully asynchronously via MCL Learning Management System (LMS) powered by Blackboard Learn (BBL).

The system will make available to students all class meetings and materials online or in-person, during or after class sessions. Regardless of the path taken, all students will achieve the same learning objectives. Malayan Colleges Laguna has outfitted its classrooms with video cameras and distributed microphones to create hybrid learning environments, or the MCL FLUX Classrooms. Video conference software such as Zoom, and MS Teams connect in-person and remote students to the synchronous learning sessions. All video conference sessions are recorded and uploaded to the MCL’s LMS powered by BBL. “Our goal in offering MCL FLUX classes is to reduce learning barriers by providing equitable access and meaningful learning opportunities for all our students,” Dr. Dodjie Maestrecampo, president of Malayan Colleges Laguna, said. “Our MCL FLUX classes reconceptualize the learning experience and rethink how students engage with their teachers, learning content, and peers,” he added. Selected MCL FLUX courses will start in the third term of A.Y. 2021-2022 (March 2022) during the implementation of limited face-to-face classes. All relevant courses will utilize the MCL FLUX approach starting A.Y. 2022-2023 (August 2022).