Two faculty members of the Faculty of Information and Communication Studies (FICS), University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) have completed their Doctor of Philosophy degrees and have reported back for service this 2017 - Dr. Diego Silang Maranan and Dr. Ria Mae Borromeo. Dr. Diego Silang Maranan obtained his Doctor of Philosophy in Art and Media as a Marie Curie Fellow at the Plymouth University, United Kingdom, under CogNovo.eu, an interdisciplinary project on creativity in cognition with a 4.1 million EU-funded project. His PhD thesis, "Haplos: Towards Technologies for and Applications for Somaesthetics," was awarded first place at the [...]

UP Open University (UPOU) participated in the 11th Annual Workshop of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) Global Health Conference held on 16-19 October 2017 at Novotel Hotel, Araneta Center, Cubao, Quezon City, Philippines and organized by the University of the Philippines (UP) System. This year's theme, "Environmental Exposures & Cancer in the Pacific Rim," aimed to promote collaboration and exchange of latest research and knowledge among health experts and practitioners, researchers, and policymakers in relation to prevention of cancer and other non-communicable diseases, environmental health, and occupational health. Two pre-conference workshops were held. The first one tackled drug [...]

Two Research, Extension and Professional Staff (REPS) of the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) were awarded the Public Service Writing Fellowship. Ms. Luisa A. Gelisan, University Researcher II at the Multimedia Center, and Ms. Emely Amoloza, University Extension Associate II at the Faculty of Information and Communication Studies, were among the eight participants who were awarded the Public Service Writing Fellowship 2017 by the UP Office of the Vice President for Public Affairs. The Public Service Writing Fellowship was initiated to promote public service as a scholarly and interdisciplinary endeavor. It aims to encourage university faculty and staff [...]

UP Open University (UPOU) Chancellor and President of the Asian Association of Open Universities, Dr. Melinda dela Pena Bandalaria, together with Dr. Jean Saludadez, UPOU Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration and Assistant Professor Reinald Adrian Pugoy of the Faculty of Information and Communication Studies, participated in the 27th World Conference on Online Learning with the theme "Teaching in the Digital Age - Re-Thinking Teaching and Learning" held on 17 to 19 October 2017 in Toronto, Canada. As the 27th edition of the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) World Conference, hosted this year by Contact North | [...]

UP Open University (UPOU) Professor, Dr. Sheila R. Bonito, visited the Vienna University of Technology (VUT) on 18-29 September 2017 to work on a new research proposal on Data Mining on Twitter. Dr. Bonito was the recipient of the Bernd Rode Award in 2016, which came with grant for a new research. The new research that Dr. Bonito will be working on aims to come up with a proposal to explore the use of machine learning in analysing Twitter data on disasters. She will be working on the data sets she had previously harvested during her first visit at VUT [...]

"It goes without saying that quality assurance has to be and should always be embedded in our process, knowledge products and services." This was what Chancellor Melinda dela Peña Bandalaria emphasized during her Keynote Speech at the recently concluded 31st Annual Conference of the Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia held on 27-29 September 2017. UP Open University (UPOU) Chancellor and AAOU President Dr. Bandalaria tackled "Quality Assurance in Open Universities" for the second plenary speech of the conference, which carried the theme "Open University for Inclusive and Equitable Quality Education." Dr. Bandalaria started her discussion by [...]

The University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU), represented by Dr. Joane V. Serrano, Director of the Information Office and the Multimedia Center, was part of the 2nd World Open Educational Resources (OER) Congress held at Ljubljana, Slovenia on 18-20 September 2017. The congress, which gathered ministers, educators, and OER advocates from different regions and countries, carried the theme, "OER for Inclusive and Equitable Quality Education: From Commitment to Action." This commitment refers back to the 1st World OER Congress and the 2012 Paris OER Declaration. The 2012 Paris OER declaration encourages governments to require publicly funded educational resources to [...]