In the Research Conversations organized by the UP Open University (UPOU) Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (OVCAA) on 27 January 2017, Prof. Melinda dela Peña Bandalaria, UPOU Chancellor, discussed QAlidad, one of the twelve UPOU Flagship Programs for 2016-2019.
QAlidad targets to establish a quality assurance (QA) culture within UPOU, and to promote and model QA in open and distance e-learning (ODeL). QAlidad seeks the operationalization of a QA audit in the university, the development of a UPOU QA framework, and the implementation of a UPOU QA System.
Chancellor Bandalaria presented the QAlidad component of the Strategic Plan in the context of its research requirements. According to Chancellor Bandalaria, the research for the operationalization of a Quality Assurance (QA) has already started with the review of literature phase. The main objective of this phase is to surface the pillars of quality in education, distance education and open and distance e-learning (ODeL). A survey research will be done to find out the perception of the different stakeholders including employees, students, employers, administrators of open universities in the region, on what quality consists of when it comes to ODeL. Based on the literature and the result of the survey, five rounds of Delphi will be conducted among the stakeholders to arrive at the final list of pillars of quality in ODeL. This will then form the first version of the QA Framework which will be used to audit UPOU as an ODeL university. In this audit, all UPOU’s processes and procedures will be codified by getting the narratives of different staff members working on the different aspects of ODeL program implementation. Focus group discussions and interviews will be done by sector. A second version of the Quality Framework with inputs from UPOU can then be finalized.
The output for these researches can be conference papers and publications, a QA manual that can be shared to all Higher Education Institutions and Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) members, and the implementation of QA at UPOU. According to Chancellor Bandalaria, quality should permeate all UPOU activities and UPOU should lead and influence research in the region especially as the current AAOU President.
Chancellor Bandalaria mentioned that UPOU was able to get funding for the codification of all UPOU practices and procedures relative to QA from the Academic Program Improvement (API) Fund of the University of the Philippines System. In addition, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has funded the development of a QA Manual as part of UPOU’s role in RA 10650.
Chancellor Bandalaria also solicited suggestions and recommendations on the proposed research methods and areas, and invited volunteer researchers to take part in the research.
Research Conversations are held every Friday at the Sandbox, CCDL, UPOU, Los Baños , Laguna. The OVCAA has decided to focus on all the Flagship Programs of the university for its Research Conversations for 2017. Prior to QAlidad, Prof. Melinda Lumanta, UPOU Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs has presented SALIKSIK, UPOU’s strategic program for research, on 06 January 2017. The target of this program is the improvement of ODeL research productivity and impact, and the significant contribution to research and innovation in priority social development fields. The performance indicators were presented as well as the four components of SALIKSIK identified as the (1) ODeL State of the Art Project, (2) Research Publication Project, (3) Research Preparation Support Project, and the (4) Analytical Tools Support Project. (Anna Cañas-Llamas)
