Distance education or distance learning focuses on teaching methods and technology for delivering teachings to students who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting like the classroom, and is usually associated with e-learning or on-line learning.
E-learning comprises all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching like computers, laptops, tablets and the like.
In line with this innovation, the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (or FNRI-DOST) in cooperation with Nestle Philippines, Inc. spearheaded the NutritionSchool.ph, the first of its kind on-line nutrition school, if not in the world, in the Philippines.
The school comprises six modules namely: Basic Nutrition, Nutrition in the Life Cycle, Nutrition and Disease, Foods, Meal Management, and State of Nutrition in the Philippines.
Three years after its launch on October 25, 2007, the FNRI-DOST evaluated the effectiveness of the school as a nutrition education tool through on-line questionnaires among those who graduated at least from the first module.
The study showed that the online school is useful, accessible and helpful in arriving at healthy choices. Overall, the nutrition school received a “very satisfactory” rating among the fifty-three participants who responded to the on-line questionnaires.
However, the need to upgrade the system is recommended, nutrition school on-line is an endeavor in revolutionizing the way people think about and approach nutrition education.
(FNRI-DOST S & T Media Service:JUND RIAN A. DORINGO/PIA9/ALT)
