Assistant Professor Reinald Adrian Pugoy, faculty member of the Faculty of Information and Communication Studies, UP Open University (FICS, UPOU) and Director of the UPOU ICT Development Office (ICTDO), was awarded the Gold Medal for the Young Innovator Award at the 35th Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) Annual Conference. AAOU 2022 was held at the International Convention Center, Jeju, Korea on 2-4 November 2022.  Pugoy's paper on “ACES: Automated Academic Essay Scoring Utilizing Neural Regression Models” won him the award. ACES is an essay scoring mechanism that employs natural language processing (NLP). NLP is a subfield of artificial [...]

Six research papers on open and distance eLearning (ODeL) authored by the Faculty of Information and Communication Studies, UP Open University (FICS, UPOU) faculty members and research, extension and professional staff (REPS) were presented in the 35th Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) Conference held at the International Convention Center, Jeju, Korea on 2-4 November 2022.  One of the papers presented by the FICS faculty gained the gold medal for the Young Innovator Award. The paper that won the medal was titled ACES: Automated Academic Essay Scoring Utilizing Neural Regression Models and was authored by Assistant Professor Reinald Adrian [...]

The UP Open University Committee on Elections, as part of their campaign to promote student leadership among students of UPOU heading towards the upcoming first-ever University Student Council Elections, just concluded "Virtual Leadership: The UPOU Student Townhall on Leadership in the Digital Age." With discussed topics including leadership during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the role and importance of student representation, and overcoming the challenges of leadership, hundreds of students registered and attended both on Zoom as well as on the live simulcast on Facebook. Invited speakers were UP Diliman University Student Council Chairperson Latrell Felix, UP Student Regent Siegfred [...]

The University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) participated in the 35th Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) Annual Conference held at the International Convention Center in Jeju, South Korea on 2-4 November 2022. The conference was hosted by the Korea National Open University (KNOU).  AAOU 2022 carried the theme "Opening a New Path to Open Universities: Responding to Global Issues," focusing on the six areas: the roles in the society, assessment, human resources developments, student support services, and the relationship with the sustainable development goals (SDGs).   Dr. Melinda dela Peña Bandalaria, UPOU Chancellor and Professor, headed the UPOU [...]

Dr. Roberto Figueroa, Assistant Professor of the UP Open University (UPOU) Faculty of Information and Communication Studies (FICS), won the Michele Steele Best of JALT 2021 Award for his contribution to the Mixed Augmented Virtual Realities in Learning Special Interest Group (SIG) and an outstanding article.  The MSBoJ 2022 ceremony was held during the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) International Conference in Fukuoka, Japan on 11-14 November 2022. The study “Virtualizing a University Campus Tour: A Pilot Study on its Usability and User Experience, and Perception,” which is also published in the second volume of the International Journal [...]