Dr. Melinda dela Peña Bandalaria, Chancellor of the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU), was one of the two speakers at the fourth and final webinar of the International Council for Distance Education (ICDE) Quality Network Webinar Series held on 9 December 2020.
The webinar focused on “International Reflections on Lessons Learned during the COVID-19 Pandemic.” The webinar started with opening remarks from Ms. Torunn Gjelsvik, ICDE Secretary General. Dr. Alan Tait from The Open University, United Kingdom (UK) served as chair and moderator. Along with Dr. Bandalaria as speaker was Prof. Drs. Ojat Darojat from Universitas Terbuka Indonesia (UT) and President of Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU).
Dr. Bandalaria discussed the current context of online learning and the learnings from the last nine months of emergency online learning. She also discussed the five major insights of lessons learned, one of the most conversation grabbing was the organizational chart provided which highlighted 12 Learning Outcome ideologies and those responsible for their creation.
Prof. Drs. Darojat discussed the misconceptions of distance education and how it affects the online learning community. The involvement of stakeholders plays a huge impact on the success of distance education. It is important to have a collaborative work between the government, higher education institutions, society, users, students, etc.
The said webinar was attended by 624 registrants, 182 active participants, from 63 countries. The highest number of participants came from Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Venezuela, and South Africa. Other participating countries include Afghanistan, Brunei Darussalam, Eswatini, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and Saudi Arabia.
A question and answer forum was followed after the discussion.
Written by Phoebe May Apostol
Edited by Joane V. Serrano and Anna Cañas-Llamas
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