Eric Alcuezar Fernandez, a student of UP Open University, placed 4th in the September 2016 Special Professional Licensure Board Exam (SPLBE) for Professional Filipino Teachers in the Middle East.
Mr. Fernandez is a Senior English Instructor II for the Saudi Japanese Automobile High Institute in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He has been working in Jeddah as an English Instructor for six years.
He came upon UPOU through a friend's recommendation and pursued the Professional Teaching Certification (PTC) program for teachers. After completing PTC, he also pursued Master's degree in Development Communication and graduated in 2016. Mr. Fernandez is also currently enrolled with UPOU as a Doctor of Communication student.
"I had been meaning to continue my studies and almost lost hope until I found UPOU," he related in an email interview. "My drive was basically grounded on my dream to reach the highest educational attainment not at the expense of my current job. I could only do it through distance education. I chose UPOU because I believe that if an institution belongs to UP System, you can expect the most quality education you can have."
When asked about his experience with UPOU as a student, he mentioned "having the time of [his] life. The fact of the matter is that I even have learned way better than when I was in the mainstream classrooms."
Mr. Fernandez mentioned having to face many challenges as an online student, but the greatest is the need to become a self-regulated and metacognitive learner to manage his time and activities. "We always have this tendency to delay things which makes us really have a hard time to start doing something." He shared that "nothing is much greater than relying on the Divine Providence," bearing in mind that his learning also depends on himself. He makes most of his time reading, and realized that he has learned a lot by choosing not to cheat on himself.
He also mentioned that UPOU has helped so much in his professional development. "UPOU had definitely made my smooth passage to promotion in my current job and inspired me to become a promising and aspiring author." In fact, he has written many books two of which are being readied for publication. "I am a proud UPOU student and Iskolar ng Bayan, and I owe most of my successes to UPOU."
His advice to UPOU students and aspiring distance education students is to make time and to focus. "Things are only made possible if we find time. There is always a time for everything. There is no secret ingredient in finding the right timing. It is only getting yourself to focus on what to do in order to start doing something that you needed to do."
UPOU offers the PTC program, an 18-unit non-degree program, which provides non-education degree holders the qualification to take the Licensure Exam for Teachers (LET). PTC will give students an understanding of the cognitive, socio-emotional, and physical characteristics of children/adolescents and how they develop and learn; knowledge of subjects they teach and how to teach them; skills for managing and monitoring student learning, and a reflective attitude about their practice, and an openness to adapt their teaching to new findings, ideas and theories. PTC is open for 3rd Trimester AY 2016-2017 admission until 21 January 2017. Along with UPOU's other graduate degree programs, the Master of Development Communication and Doctor of Communication programs are open for 1st Semester AY 2017-2018 applicants until 07 April 2017. To apply for the programs, go to our.upou.edu.ph. (Anna Cañas-Llamas)
