THE UNIVERSITY of the Philippines- Visayas has developed a new platform to improve its online learning system and address the concerns faced by students and teachers.

The university’s new Learning Management System was designed by a team of IT experts led by Prof. Nilo Araneta. The new program, which costs P345,000, will offer better customization and will be easier to use.

“For UPV LMS plans, more customization and optimization is needed to improve operations and facilitate ease of use. The user guides for faculty and students also need to be improved. If the UPV admin permits, we can connect UPV LMS and UP Computer Registration System for synchronization of data,” Araneta said.

The new system was developed in two months despite several challenges like time constraints, lack of human resources and incomplete Computerized Registration System data including class lists, teacher-assignments, problems with student email addresses, and other enrollment concerns.

“We didn’t create the LMS from scratch. We used and customized the Moodle platform, which is one of the most popular systems available. From July to August, we worked on configuring the LMS, changing its appearance, removing unneeded features, and testing functionalities,” Prof. John Roy Daradal, a member of the IT team and a Computer Science faculty said.

Meanwhile, students and teachers had mixed reactions on the new remote learning system.

“It is more organized since all requirements and learning materials are posted there. However, it lacks notifications in the posting of modules and requirements. Overall, remote learning is bearable because of the LMS,” Shanely Jane Vanidad, BS in Food Technology II student, said.

“I think the advantages of having an LMS are being able to organize all the learning materials that will facilitate both the learning experience of the students and classroom management by the professors,” Prof. Lhumen Tejano, a faculty at the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, said.

However, he noted that teachers still experience difficulties in the new system especially in conducting exams.

“It’s really tedious. When you prepare for a quiz or an exam, you have to type the questions and the choices in separate boxes. You need to press a lot of buttons just to come up with an organized exam,” Tejano said.