Ms. Rhonna Marie Robles-Verena, a University Researcher from the Faculty of Education (FEd), UP Open University (UPOU), was given the Best Presentation Award at the 3rd ASEAN University Conference on Public Relations and Communications (APRC) 2017. Ms Verena is one of the six conference presenters given the award. Other awardees were from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. The award’s criteria were paper content (60%), presentation media/visuals (20%), and delivery (20%).
Ms. Verena presented a paper on “Connecting Teachers and Students in Online Classrooms: Communicative Practices of Student Support” wherein she discussed the evolution in the communicative practices of student support services provided by FEd. The evolution were influenced by the following factors: 1) diversity in the program offerings, 2) changing and varying profile of its students and faculty members, 3) enrollment rate, 4) developments in the implementation of distance education, and 5) advances in technology. She also shared the current initiatives/innovative practices that have been employed to disseminate relevant information about academic and administrative processes to all the Faculty’s stakeholders.
APRC 2017 was organized by Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Institute of Public Relations Malaysia Students Association, and UUM Student Development and Alumni Office of the College of Arts & Sciences. It was held at the EDC Hotel in UUM, Kedah, Malaysia on 25-26 November 2017.
The theme of this year’s conference was “Bridging ASEAN to Global Community: The Current and Future Communication Challenges.” The conference is a platform for students and representatives of higher learning institutions in Malaysia and the Asian region to discuss and share thoughts on issues related to public relations and communication as experienced and practiced in other ASEAN countries. The UPOU is one of the partner-institutions of the conference.
Other UPOU personnel who presented their research papers and/or participated in the conference were Dr. Jean A. Saludadez, Luisa A. Gelisan, Emely Amoloza, and Ela Giselle Abao.
This is now the 2nd year that UPOU bagged the Best Presentation Award.
