The UP Open University conducted a Blended Training Course on Open Distance eLearning (ODeL) for the nineteen (19) Graduate Faculty of the Department of Political Science of the University of the Philippines Diliman. The three-day training course held on 11-13 April at UPOU Headquarters provided an overview of distance education and equipped training participants to redesign their existing courses for ODeL Delivery.
This training is spearheaded by UPOU Chancellor Melinda dP. Bandalaria Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Dr. Primo G. Garcia, Center for Open and Digital Teaching and Learning (CODTL) Director Dr. Ricardo T. Bagarinao, and Office of Public Affairs (OPA) Dr. Myra C. Almodiel.
CODTL Director Dr. Ricardo T. Bagarinao kickstarted the ODeL training course with Module 1: “Introduction to ODeL” and Module 2: “Pedagogical/Theoretical Underpinnings of ODeL.” In his discussion, Dr. Bagarinao highlighted the role of educators in social transformation, “We’re hoping that we can help shape our society using ODeL as an approach to produce competent professionals who can shape the future of this nation.”
The second day of the training featured UPOU Chancellor Dr. Melinda dP. Bandalaria as a Resource Person. Chancellor Bandalaria discussed Module 3: “Redesigning Courses for ODeL,” where participants were taught how to redesign their course syllabus into a course guide. A course guide determines the information that the document will contain and serves as a scaffold for the course to achieve learning outcomes better. Dr. Bandalaria also discussed Module 4: “Internal Quality Assurance in ODeL” and delved into the perception that distance education or online learning is of low quality compared to conventional or residential instruction. In her discussion, Dr. Bandalaria shed light on the dark side of distance education and how UPOU addresses it to ensure quality education in spite of the barriers plaguing the distance learning mode of instruction.
The training course concludes with Module 5: “Learning Activities and Assessment on ODeL” discussed by Dr. Myra C. Almodiel, Assistant Professor of the Faculty of Information and Communication Studies and Director of the Office of Public Affairs. Dr. Almodiel shared approaches to designing learning activities and assessments that promote student engagement and interaction in an online environment.
As their final outputs for this training course, the participants presented their sample redesigned study guides for ODeL delivery. Their sample lessons were evaluated by Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Dr. Primo G. Garcia.
The training course wrapped up with closing remarks delivered by Dr. Aries A. Arugay, Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Political Science, UP Diliman. He thanked UPOU for opening a home for them, the resource persons for lending their expertise and time, and the staff who they bonded with for the past three days. “Los Baños is a nice haven for us…I commend UPOU for being able to cascade the philosophies and learnings of UP that some of us will not be able to do so…Ito [training course] po ay simula pa lamang ng marami pang collaborative opportunities with UPOU”, Dr. Arugay said.
This initiative is part of UPOU’s mandate under RA10650 “Open Distance Learning Law”. All partnership activities are also under UPOU’s initiative SDG17 “Partnership for the Goals and SDG 4 “Sustainable Development.”
Written by Shaira Tanay
Edited by Myra C. Almodiel
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