A Phenomenological Study of the Lived Experiences of Tagumpay National High School Teachers Involved in Online Learning Action Cell Session

A qualitative phenomenological approach was used in this study to describe the lived experiences of Tagumpay National High School (TNHS) teachers on Online Learning Action Cell (LAC) session. LAC is a school-based professional development for teachers implemented by the Philippine Department of Education (DepEd). Due to teacher’s lack of participation on classroom LAC, a fully-online mode option is explored by offering TNHS teachers Online LAC session using Facebook as a Learning Management System (LMS). To capture the lived experience of teachers, an in-depth interview with a purposive sample of one TNHS teacher is done in the process. The data gathered went through “Hycner’s Explicitation Process” (1999, in Groenewald, 2004) which includes bracketing, delineating, clustering, summarizing and extracting unique themes. Validity and Credibility were accomplished through an intercoder agreement between researchers, Facebook chat records, bracketing, and member checking. Results identified three themes in relation to teacher’s experience of Online LAC session including usefulness, barriers, and preference. Findings revealed the major role of TNHS teacher’s context on how Online LAC is utilized. Recommendations include administrator and expert teacher working with classroom teachers and the inclusion of teachers’ voices as input in the program design, implementation and evaluation stages of Online LAC to better address curriculum needs and facilitate the delivery of high-quality professional development for teachers’ professional growth.

Present Status and Future Scope of Water Users’ Associations in the Punjab, Pakistan

Pakistani farmers are facing many constraints, of which shortage of irrigation water is the major one. On-Farm Water Management Department has introduced Water Users’ Associations (WUAs) throughout the country to operate, maintain and re-habilitate the water distribution system in an efficient and effective manner. Moreover, WUAs are also responsible for providing logistic support and communication bridge between the water users and the Govt. Departments. The present study deals with the importance of the WUAs for the efficient management of irrigation water. The study deals exclusively with the prevailing contingencies which may support or hinder farmers'' participation through WUAs for the management of irrigation water. Thus the main focus of the study was on the analysis of the prevailing formal and informal interventions at farm level for the management of irrigation water through the active participation of water users. The socio-economic regulatory patterns such as age, education, land holding, location of land with respect to watercourse and ‘biradary’ (caste) play a dominant role in determining the direction and extent of activities of the WUAs. The institutional, socio-political and cultural factors were considered to be the main determinants of effective functioning of WUAs within the context of watercourse improvement/maintenance. The present study was carried out in all tehsils of district Sargodha in central Punjab. From each tehsil, one markaz was selected randomly. From each selected markaz, five improved watercourses were selected at random and from each selected improved watercourse, fifteen water users were selected randomly for interview. The data were collected through validated and pre-tested interview schedule. The data were analyzed with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The results show that a large majority of the respondents rated WUAs’ leadership as good, while slightly more than one-fifth of the respondents were of the view that leadership was excellent. About half of the respondents provided both cash and labor as per requirement in the watercourse improvement. A vast majority of the respondents cleaned their watercourses by joint operation and was highly satisfied with the interval/frequency and quality of watercourse cleaning. Rivalry among different ‘briadaries’ (castes), water thefts and non-cooperative behavior of some farmers were the main causes of conflicts among the water users. All the respondents regarded ‘biradary’ (caste) heads’ interventions to resolve the farmers’ complaints. Lack of finance on the part of small/poor farmers, lack of interest on the part of big landlords and lack of unity among the water users were the main problems in the effective functioning of WUAs before the improvement of the watercourse. Majority of the respondents was highly satisfied with the contribution of WUAs in resolving the disputes and thought that WUAs never listened to the complaintee only while taking decision on various issues but listened to both the parties besides judging the situation at site with the view that level of effectiveness of WUAs in resolving the complaints was high. Participation of water