Providing quality education to every child in the world has always been a challenge to all of us, but with the COVID-19 virus being around, it isn’t easier; it made things far more complicated. Students are forced to take distance learning, resulting in questioning the quality of education, on whether if it’s still effective and enough or not anymore.

Online classes are the go-to option of the majority of schools since it is the only means for the teachers and students to see each other while remaining distant from one another. But what about the students who don’t have the privilege of an internet connection?

Modular Learning is the key to keep learning. But the question is: Is modular learning enough to act as a substitute for online learning, knowing that the students’ and teachers’ connection and interaction with each other are only limited to printed materials?

Not to mention the challenge for the teachers to provide a substantial amount of resources such as printed learning materials for the students to use in the modular learning setup. It requires a large amount of money to produce the said modules and it also contributes to the depletion of trees since a lot of papers are being used to print them. Still, there might be a way to solve this problem and improve the modular learning setup.

A team composed of five students between the ages of 15-17 from the Junior High School and Senior High School Department of Dr. Yanga’s Colleges Inc., located in Bocaue, Bulacan might have the solution.

After researching and brainstorming, the team, the DYCI Primes, proudly present the application, PAPEL (Paper As Portal for Extensive Learning), a mobile application that can offer quality education without using Wi-Fi. In this app, the students or users only need to scan a provided QR code to view the learning materials such as modules, videos, PowerPoint presentations, and activity worksheets. Once the QR code is scanned, the learning materials would automatically be transferred to the app. This process can be done even without the use of an internet connection.

Through this application, the students can view their lessons with ease since the videos and learning modules are organized by subject, grading period, and file type. The interface of the application has 4 main tabs: the Home tab, Scan tab, Subjects tab, and Videos tab. The Info tab is added for the users to know the background of the application.

Through the learning materials made accessible to all students, they can receive the quality education they deserve. Aside from the modules that are given to them, they can watch their teachers in explaining the lessons without the need for an internet connection.

This app also helps to solve the crisis of learning resources since modules aren’t needed to be printed, they can be distributed digitally to the students. The main purpose of this app is to provide accessible learning for all!

This application was made possible by the programmers of the team, Nicole Flores and Daniella Angela De Guzman, the researchers of the team, Aaron James Amar, Annette Nicole Ambi, and Lauren Stacy Cruz with the guidance of their coaches, Sir Beryl Cruz and Sir Jasper Alberto. The DYCI Primes pursues to be “MAGIS” or more in everything that they do. They believe that there is always something that can be improved and that by working together, we can discover and recover from the challenges we are currently facing.

Photo courtesy of Dr. Yanga College