Meet CODEPP: The New Consortium that will Push Forward Open Distance eLearning in Ph

History was made during the meeting of the Technical Working Group (TWG) for the Creation of Consortium of Open Distance Education Providers in the Philippines on 17 August 2022, at Ifugao State University, Lamut, Ifugao as the group formalized the official name of the consortium–Consortium of Open Distance Education Providers in the Philippines (CODEPP)–and forwarded the notion to officiate the TWG members as Founding Members. 

The Consortium is composed of eight higher learning institutions that offer open distance education in the country. These universities are the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU), Benguet State University (BSU), Cavite State University (CvSU), Central Luzon State University (CLSU), Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University (DMMMSU), Ifugao State University (IFSU), Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU), and John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University (JBLFMU). 

CODEPP will be officially launched at the 7th National Conference on Open and Distance eLearning (NCODeL), a biannual forum for administrators, teachers, scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to learn together as they explore spaces and possibilities for ODeL development, which will be held virtually in November 2022. 

The formalization of the creation of CODEPP was done through a Consortium Strategic Planning Workshop that was moderated by UPOU Chancellor, Dr. Melinda dela Peña. Bandalaria, where organizational structure, membership, and areas of shared interests and cooperation as well as possible partnerships and collaborations were discussed. Among these are academic collaboration— program development and offering, cross-enrollment, open educational resources sharing, and research collaborations; capacity building through faculty and student exchange; international collaboration; and international accreditation.

The meeting started with an invocation and national anthem followed by the welcoming address of the IFSU President, Dr. Eva Marie Codamon-Dugyon, as the host of the meeting. In her welcoming remarks, she thanked the TWG members for coming to IFSU and underscored the commitment of each member institution to foster open and distance education in the country. She also recalled the different training and seminar workshops conducted by UPOU that capacitated their faculty members during the pandemic. Dr. Codamon-Dugyon also gave a brief overview of the status and progress of the College of Open Distance Education and Transnational Education at IFSU. In her closing statement, she expressed her enthusiasm for the future collaborative activities of the TWG members that will further advance open and distance learning in higher education.

Dr. Bandalaria also gave opening remarks where she expressed her gratitude to IFSU for hosting the meeting, and to the meeting participants for attending and committing as active members of the TWG. Dr. Bandalaria highlighted the spirit of collaboration, pooling of resources, and sharing of expertise in achieving the members’ common mission of providing inclusive education to various Filipino learners in the country and across the globe. “The spirit of collaboration, the spirit of working together is something that keeps us going. There is no such thing as competition. When we are together, we are stronger in achieving this common vision,” remarked Dr. Bandalaria. She also refreshed the attendees of the agreement made by the group to be called the Technical Working Group during their first meeting held last 30 January 2020 at BSU. As a prelude to the meeting, Dr. Bandalaria then forwarded the notion to move the TWG members to become Founding Members of the Consortium. 

Dr. Jeng Jeng M. Bolintao, Dean of the College of Open Distance Education of IFSU, acknowledged the presence of the participants in the meeting venue as well as the attendees who participated virtually. 

Also discussed in the meeting are the proposed partnership to co-organize  NCODeL, participation in the Global Advocacy Campaign on Open, Flexible, and Distance Learning (OFDL) of the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE), and applying for the Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) membership.

The Consortium agreed to meet biannually. In 2023, the first meeting of the Consortium is scheduled for March 2023 and will be hosted by MMSU in Quiling Sur, Batac City, Ilocos Norte. The second meeting will be hosted by DMMMSU in September 2023 and will be held in Sapilang, Bacnotan, La Union.

Written by Shaira Tanay

Edited by Myra C. Almodiel and Anna Cañas-Llamas