News

The University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU), led by Chancellor Melinda dela Peña Bandalaria, was with the members of the ICDE Global Advocacy Campaign on OFDL Task Force Asia for the Working Group Meeting on 6 September 2022.  Task Force Asia includes five Working Groups which handle specific areas of the campaign. UPOU leads WG 2 (Capacity Building) with updates reported by Ms. Margaret Jarmin-Suarez, PDA for Institutional Linkages. She reported that the members of the WG2 was able to meet and was able to identify six activities, including (1) rapid capability building needs assessment and preferred implementation mechanics; [...]

Reimagine the future of open and distance e-learning by joining the 7th National Conference on Open and Distance e-Learning (NCODeL 2022)! The conference is still accepting submissions until 21 September 2022. For those interested, abstracts (maximum of 350 words) for paper and poster presentations should be research-based and in line with the theme “Reimagining Education Futures” with any of the following sub-themes (which can also be found on the NCODeL 2022 conference website, https://ncodel.org/. Flexible models in education Innovating technologies in eLearning Flexible learning pathways for lifelong learning Open educational resources Ensuring Quality in online and distance learning Reskilling and [...]

The University of the Philippines  Open University (UPOU)  welcomed visitors from the Angeles University Foundation (AUF) in a benchmarking activity on 7 September 2022. The AUF team led by Dr. Jarrent Tayag, Program Chair of the Graduate School of AUF, was welcomed by the Chancellor of UP Open University, Dr. Melinda dela Peña. Bandalaria; the Director of Office of Public Affairs, Dr. Myra C. Almodiel; and UPOU Program Development Associate for International Linkages, Ms. Margaret Jarmin-Suarez. Chancellor Bandalaria discussed UPOU’s practices in its implementation of distance education and management of online learning systems to the team of Deans and Professors [...]

Dr. Melinda dela Peña Bandalaria, Chancellor of the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU), is lined up as one of the speakers for the Times Higher Education (THE) Digital Universities Middle East and North Africa (MENA) this September 2022.  The event will be held on 12-14 September 2022 in Abi Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Chancellor Bandalaria will be speaking on the topic “Designing a benchmarking framework for Online, Open, Smart and Technology-oriented Higher Education.” Along with her are acclaimed experts in the field of open education, distance education, and technology-enhanced learning. These include Torunn Gjelsvik, Secretary-General of the International [...]

On 6 September 2022, the University of the Philippines Open University spearheaded the first meeting of the Team involved in the Philippine Leg of the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) Global Advocacy Campaign (GAC) on Open and Flexible Distance Learning (OFDL). Dr. Melinda dela Peña Bandalaria warmly welcomed the members of the campaign and gave a chance for each of the participants to introduce themselves. Participants of the meeting are universities that responded to the call for volunteers. These include the University of Batangas, John B. Lacson Maritime University, University of Saint La Salle, Agusan del [...]

The University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) conducted the Hands-on Workshop on Developing Immersive Learning Programs for Higher Education on  01 September 2022. The resource speaker of the activity is Professor Eric Hawkinson, a visiting professor under the Faculty of Information and Communication Studies (FICS) and also a faculty of Kyoto University of Foreign Studies who specializes in teaching Learning Design and Technology. Professor Hawkinson defined immersive technology as a category of technology referring to augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality, extended reality, diminished reality, and the metaverse. He further shared that we are slowly transitioning from the print [...]

The University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) through the Faculty of Management and Development Studies (FMDS) and the Office of Gender Concerns (OGC) collaborated with the Women Sustainability Academy for this year’s Women Sustainability Forum held last August 31, 2022. The forum was attended by researchers, scholars, practitioners, and advocates for sustainability from different countries and was streamed live on UPOU websites. The forum focused on three topics namely Education for sustainable development, Gender, and Climate Change, and Future-focused Sustainability. Dr. Isabel B. Franco, the global chairperson of the Women Sustainability Academy, welcomed the participants and introduced all the [...]

This 2022, three Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) were launched with the intention of making the transition to the Diploma in Computer Science (DCS) program easier and supplying additional computer science-related skills and knowledge to the interested public: Introduction to Logic, Introduction to Information Security, and Artificial Intelligence for Quality Assurance in Education. These courses are free, online, and enrollment is open to anyone interested. More than 1,100 students took interest in short courses and enrolled in them.  For the whole month of June, Ms. Ria Mae Corda taught “Introduction to Logic” to the 445 participants enrolled in the [...]

The University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) welcomes Prof. Eric Hawkinson as a visiting professor under the Faculty of Information and Communication Studies (FICS). Prof. Hawkinson currently teaches Learning and Design Technology at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies. He is also a learning futurist who explores and designs technologies for the future of teaching and learning. His projects included augmented tourism rallies, augmented reality (AR) community art exhibitions, mixed reality escape rooms, and other experiments in immersive technology. On 01 September 2022, Prof. Hawkinson conducted a hands-on workshop with the team of Dr. Roberto B. Figueroa, Jr. about “Developing [...]

Dr. Joane V. Serrano, Dean and Professor of the Faculty of Management and Development Studies (FMDS), University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) served as a plenary speaker for the Mid-Year Convention of the Philippine Association of Teachers for Educational Foundations and United Professionals for the Development and Advancement of Teacher Education (PATEF-UPDATE) Inc. in partnership with the Philippine Normal University. The event was held on 30 July 2022 via Zoom and streamed live on Facebook. With this year’s theme of Setting Directions on Institutionalizing Flexible Learning, Dean Serrano gave a lecture regarding [...]