News

The University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) through the UPOU Library under the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs donated UPOU publications and dissertations to the National Library of the Philippines (NLP) last 12 October 2022.  The said Book Donation Drive is part of the University’s mandate through Republic Act (R.A.) 9500 and R.A. 10650 to take lead in ensuring quality education in Open and Distance e-Learning (ODeL). The donation was facilitated by Ms. Jennifer Belen-Bunao, UPOU LIbrarian, and was received by Ms. Melody Madrid, Chief Librarian of the Collection Development Division of NLP. The donated [...]

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 [...]

True to its mission of reaching out to underserved communities, the Ugnayan ng Pahinungod UPOU, in collaboration with the Office of the Staff Regent  (OSR), and the All UP Workers Union (AUPWU) Diliman and Open University Chapters, conducted an ICT Literacy training program among the youth of the Dumagat Indigenous People community from Rodriguez, Rizal, last 8 and 15 October 2022.  This two-day training aims to capacitate the Dumagat youth of Rodriguez, Rizal in their computer proficiency and information and technology literacy skills that would be beneficial for their future career endeavors.  Two separate training sessions were conducted on 8 [...]

The University of the Philippine Open University (UPOU) partners with Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University (HMBSU) and the Benchmarking Framework for Online, Open, Smart, and Technology-Enhanced Higher Education in organizing the webinar titled “Sharing Best Practices of Asian Universities.” This initiative is in partnership with the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) to be held on 10 November 2022, 3:00 PM (Manila Time) and 11:00 AM (Dubai Time).  Dr. Melinda dela Peña Bandalaria, UPOU Chancellor, will be delivering the welcome address.  Dr. Primo Garcia, UPOU Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, on the other hand, will serve [...]

The 8th episode of the Revitalizing Socioecological Production Landscapes and Seascapes (SEPLS) Webinar Series titled "Assessment of Ifugao Rice Terraces, a Satoyama Landscape" was held on 27 October 2022 via Zoom.   Ms. Eulalie D. Dulnuan, Supervising Administrative Officer of the National Museum of the Philippines, was the guest speaker.  Dr. Romeo A. Gomez, Jr., Professor of Ecology and Environmental Science of Benguet State University, served as the guest discussant.  Ms. Anne Frances Buhay from the Faculty of Management and Development Studies (FMDS) of the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) hosted the virtual event. Ms. Dulnuan clarified [...]

The UP Open University Multimedia Center (UPOU MC) conducted a 2-day training-workshop titled “Graphics Editing Using Photopea”. The workshop, a hybrid event, was held on 18 and 25 October 2022 at the Audio-visual Room, UPOU in Los Baños, Laguna,  and broadcasted simultaneously via Zoom.  Ms. Ann Kristine Medina, a UPOU MC administrative staff member and multimedia developer/producer, served as trainer/resource person. Forty-eight individuals, consisting of UPOU faculty, REPS, research assistants, administrative staff members, and students/student assistants participated in the training.  The training aimed to capacitate participants on how to use Photopea (https://www.photopea.com/), a free graphic editing software [...]