UPOU and PLDT spearhead webinar series to prepare teachers and students for online learning

To prepare the various sectors for the online mode of teaching and learning which will be the new normal when classes open for the next school year, the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) PLDT Infoteach Outreach Program  conducted a webinar series titled “Gearing up for the New Normal in Teaching and Learning.” The initial session was held on 28 July 2020 which  focused on the topic “Preparing your course for online delivery.”

For this event, a total of 14,739 registered participants attended the session. These include school administrators, teachers and students from all over the Philippines and abroad. During this session, there were a total of 48,389 total views. Of which 21,616 views were through the UPOU networks; 7,773 views via Facebook Live; and around 19,000 playbacks from YouTube. Through these online platforms, the webinar series was also extended to the public. The peak viewers totaled to 8,428 individuals.

This webinar series is being implemented as part of the current phase of the PLDT Infoteach Outreach Program. The UPOU has been a partner of PLDT in this program since 2012. Through this partnership, the program was able  to produce 24,986  graduates including teachers and students from different public schools nationwide. The data also include graduates from groups of  women, senior citizens and out of school youth in selected areas.

UPOU Chancellor, Dr. Melinda Bandalaria was featured as the Resource Person for this session.  Dr. Sheryll Gayola, Schools Division Superintendent of  the DepED Division of Marikina City served as the panelist while PLDT Community Relations Head, Ms. Katherine Diaz De Rivera moderated the session.

During the lecture, Bandalaria expressed that “Through the webinar series, we advocate the culture of sharing. We become architects as we design our own modules. Through this, we enable our fellow teachers to learn from our best teaching and learning practices.” 

There will be several topics to be discussed in the webinar series on different dates. For teachers, the topics include preparing courses for online delivery (July 28), engaging learners online (August 3), assessment of online engagement tools (August 7) and supporting online learners (August 10). Students will be given an online course on preparing to be an online learner (August 5) while parents will be offered a special webinar on how to support their children as online learners (August 18). Moreover, a webinar session on cyber security will also be available to the general public (August 14).  

As UPOU and PLDT recognize the vital role that the local government units (LGUs) play in supporting the education sector on its transition to digital learning, a special webinar session for them is scheduled on 12 August 2020. Through this session, LGUs will be sharing their best practice on how they assist the education sector in facing the new normal. With the shared advocacy of helping the education sector, the UPOU and PLDT dedicate this webinar series not only to the teachers but also to the other major participants of the teaching-learning process: the students; their parents; and the whole community.