In celebration of the International Education Day last 24 January 2022, Dr. Melinda dela Peña Bandalaria, Chancellor of University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU), participated in the #ChatUP: Real Talk, Real Impact, Episode 6 via Facebook Live.  Dr. Bandalaria talked about the strategies to address learning loss, digital technologies, continuity of learning, and virtual higher education collaborations. She discussed the impact of learning loss and how it was evident during the onset of the pandemic, especially in the Philippines.  According to her, both teachers and learners were not prepared for teaching and learning via remote mode. “Some of the [...]

The University of the Philippines (UP) Board of Regents (BOR) voted in favor of Dr. Melinda dela Pena Bandalaria as  the next Chancellor of the UP Open University (UPOU) at their 1368th meeting held on 24 February 2022.   Chancellor Bandalaria’s 3rd term will run from 01 March 2022 to 28 February 2025. Chancellor Bandalaria is the fourth Chancellor of UPOU, a home-grown staff member who started her career with UPOU as the Assistant to the Dean for the then School for Distance Education (SDE) - Los Banos.  An opportunity to be a Faculty member then came, and she has since [...]

The Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) conducted Webinar Series 2022 #1: (R)evolution of ODL with the theme “The 'Shape' of ODL Post-Covid19” on 25 February 2022 at 10:00 AM (UTC+8) and streamed live via YouTube.  The webinar was co-organized by the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) as part of its 27th anniversary celebration.  It featured Dr. Melinda dela Peña Bandalaria, UPOU Chancellor and Professor, as one of the keynote speakers. Dr. Bandalaria shared her insights and perspectives on open distance learning (ODL) before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic.  She looked at the enrollment trend [...]

The UP Open University (UPOU) Family Day was held in the afternoon of 23 February 2022 as part of the university’s 27th anniversary celebration. The event, conducted online via Zoom, was attended by UPOU officials, faculty and staff.  The Family Day is a venue for UPOU faculty and  staff to bond together and be recognized for their years of service and contributions to the university.  The program was hosted by Mr. Rodolfo Pullian and Ms. Filipina Bautista-Pullian.  The program started with a moment of silence to remember Dr. Felix Librero, former Chancellor of UP Open University (UPOU) and Ms. Jennifer [...]

To commemorate the 27th founding anniversary of the UP Open University (UPOU), a virtual event was held on 23 February 2022. The theme for the event was, “University of the Future: Reimaginations, Reconfigurations, and Realizations.” Since its establishment, UPOU has sustained its commitment to its vision of continuously coming up with ways to deliver quality online distance learning education and actively take part in the fast-changing world.  In her opening remarks, UPOU Chancellor Melinda dela Peña Bandalaria shared that 27 years ago, UPOU was established as one of the constituent universities of the University of the Philippines (UP) to [...]

False information has increased exponentially on various social media platforms especially with the upcoming national election on 9 May 2022. For many Filipinos, social media has become their primary source of news. As the cyber campus of the University of the Philippines (UP), the UP  Open University (UPOU) has united with Tsek.ph to make sure that misinformation and disinformation circulating the online highways are fact-checked.  Tsek.ph is a collaborative fact-checking project for the 2022 Philippines’ election. It verifies and fact-checks “platforms and campaign promises of candidates, Election-related statements and remarks made by candidates, personalities, government agencies, and other entities; [...]