UP Open University (UPOU) welcomed 37 participants from eight Higher Education Institutions in the Philippines for the conduct of the Training Program titled “Accreditation System for Quality Assured (QA), Technology Mediated, Flexible Teaching and Learning (TMFTL) for Higher Education in Digital Times.” This Training Program is a collaborative project of the Philippines Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the University of the Philippines (UP), University of the Philippines Television (TVUP), and UPOU. The two-day training was held from 27 to 28 June 2024 at the CCDL Auditorium, UPOU Headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna.
The training participants are accreditor members of the Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities in the Philippines (AACCUP). These are from Cebu Technological University, Sulu State College, Bohol Island State University, University of Eastern Philippines, Mariano Marcos State University, Philippine Normal University, Batangas State University, and Caraga State University.
The first day started with a welcome message from Dr. Melinda dela Peña Bandalaria, Chancellor of UPOU. She shared that the training will mark a significant milestone in the history of AACCUP; it is an opportunity to show what UPOU is doing and hope to make an impact on the universities involved today. She added that it is also an opportunity for UPOU to collaborate with the universities. Dr. Grace Javier Alfonso, the Project Lead and Executive Director of TVUP, delivered the opening remarks, emphasizing the program’s goal of laying the groundwork for a transformative CHED policy to reshape the current accreditation system.
Prof. Lilian A. de las Llagas, former CHED Commissioner and the Commissioner Oversight for Quality Assurance and Qualifications Framework, delivered the key message on “Quality in a Technology-enhanced, Technology-enabled Program Delivery System.” In her talk, she explained the importance of portability in accreditation and crafting a Quality Toolkit, and she delved into the attributes, definitions, and key concepts of Quality in education. She also shared that UPOU is the benchmark of TMFTL and that learning UPOU’s quality toolkit would allow universities “not to grope in the dark.”
The rest of the morning was the video presentation about Sustaining Flexible Learning in Higher Education, Production of Training Modules for Accreditors, and Quality Indicators of TMFTL. Participants were given time to evaluate each video using a QR code directed to the evaluation forms and were asked to prepare assessment questions about the presented videos.
The afternoon was dedicated to break-out sessions where the participants were distributed to three clusters, each focusing on a specific aspect of TMFTL. Cluster A delved into multimedia and technologies in TMFTL, which was facilitated by UP College of Mass Communication (CMC) professor Dr. Arminda Santiago. Cluster B focused on Pedagogy, facilitated by Dr. Elena Pernia, UP CMC Professor and Former UP Vice President for Public Affairs. Cluster C honed in on AI/Data Analytics, facilitated by Dr. Myra Almodiel, Associate Professor at UPOU and Director of the UPOU Office of Public Affairs.
On the second day, Dr. Lourdes M. Portus, UP CMC Professor and Adjunct Faculty Member of the UPOU Faculty of Information and Communication Studies (FICS), started the session by summarizing the highlights of Day 1 of the training, after which, was the reporting of the representatives of each cluster. Each representative presented the key takeaways from the videos they watched the day before and discussed how the concepts they learned affected the design of their accreditation toolkit, as well as an assessment of how the concepts will be helpful in their tasks as accreditors. Dr. Elena Pernia, also a UP professor, then facilitated the discussion of the presentations of each cluster and summarized the key takeaways.
Dr. Milabel E. Ho, Executive Director of AACCUP, delivered the closing remarks to conclude the training session. She said the training is very timely as AACCUP is revising its accreditation instruments, and it will serve as the start of a new era of quality assurance for the organization. The event concluded with the distribution of certificates to the participants.
Dr. Myra C. Almodiel served as the host and moderator for the two-day event. The event is supported by the UPOU Office of the Chancellor, the UPOU Center for Open and Digital Teaching and Learning, and the UPOU Office of Public Affairs.
Written by Anna Cañas-Llamas ♦ Edited by Myra C. Almodiel ♦ Photos by Anna Mhari Duria
