10 U.P. Newsletter
October 2012
UPOU joins PLDT and partners in the Celebration of Teachers’ Month distance education—the Diploma in Science Teaching—and later on paved the way for the establishment of the UP Open University. UPOU is offering the teaching professionals UP-quality education, Alfonso Lyncen M. Fernandez emphasized. Academic rigor is promoted by “Our teachers (resource persons) from developing critical thinking. Learners are UP Visayas (UPV) were very earnest in looked at as co-creators of scholarly texts their intent to teach us what they know so and they are honed as producers of new that we will have the skills that we need knowledge, she said. to develop our product,” said Glenda Isberto spoke about changing technology Villareal, one of the 30 women who and its effects on teaching and learning. underwent training on postharvest fish Amazed at what the children of today are processing. capable of doing, he reminded the teachers Villareal was refer ring to the to adjust to the reality that they are not “Community-based Postharvest Fisheries the fountains of all wisdom anymore. He Technology Transfer Program” conducted explained that anyone could learn online by UPV through the College of Fisheries just by going to educational sites. He said on Ocean Sciences (CFOS) and funded by that teachers have “a lot to do in guiding the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of these students in how to use this kind of Aquatic Research (DA-BAR) that started technology.” According to him, the most in July this year. important role of teacher is to guide them The project was comprehensive in with honorable values of learning. Teachers scope. The researchers first conducted a have to provide them intellectual honesty survey of the marine products that are and diligence, the core values of learning or readily available and abundant in Carles, global values. “Teachers do still have many a municipality in Iloilo Province with 33 things to teach the youth,” he added. barangays, 18 of which are island-barangays, Garde spoke about the IntelTeach and widely-known for its very rich fishing Program of her company. grounds. The survey also included which UPOU Faculty of Information and business the women preferred to engage Communication Studies Dean Melinda in. The skills training for fish processing Bandalaria served as master of ceremonies. (Eleanor Payawal-Manipol)
Fish processing skills training for women of Carles held and value addition followed. This included deboning, smoking, fish ham curing (hamonado), drying (dried fish or lamayo), bottling of sardines and milkfish, and making crispy dilis (anchovies). After acquiring the skills, the participants underwent training on enterprise development such as packaging and bookkeeping with resource persons from the UPV College of Management. Last October 10, the women participants launched their products during the Carles Expo 2012, which was a part of the part of the town’s Pangisda Festival celebration. On hand to attend the launching of their products was Prof. Emilia SantosYap, the project proponent and UPV Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs. Not able to attend were her co-proponents Prof. Merlina Andalecio of the Institute of Fisheries Policy and Development Studies (IFPDS) and Ernestina Peralta of the Institute of Fish Processing Technology (IFPT), both of CFOS. Also present were representatives from the DA-BAR. (With sources from CFOS) Photo courtesy of UPV-IPO
UPV establishes Iloilo City Capital Market Investment Resource Center Continued from page 7
the Capital Market Investors’ Guild, was established to assist the investment advisor in providing information and training services to students, faculty and the investing public. Leonardo Quinitio, head of the Capital Market Development Division of the Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc., was the guest of honor of the launch. He was joined by UPV Chancellor Rommel Espinosa, Vice-Chancellor for Planning and Development Evelyn Belleza, CM Dean Mary Ann Gumban, and the representative of the Office of the Iloilo City Mayor, Francis Cruz, Iloilo City Local Economic Investment Promotions Officer. Quinitio gave a talk on the fundamentals of stock investing to an audience of about 300 professionals, businessmen and students. Representatives from the local stockbrokers in Iloilo City, Aurora Hugo of Regina Capital and Hernan Segovia of Summit Securities were also present during his talk. (With sources from the College of Management)
Processed fish product from the training workshop
UPLB campaigns for honest 2013 elections
Continued from page 3 Photo by Alex Castillo(http://ovcre.uplb.edu.ph/index.php?option=com_ k2&view=item&id=198:uplb-campaigns-for-honest-2013-elections)
The UP Open University joined PLDT and its partners in celebrating Teachers’ Month last October 3 at SM North Edsa, Quezon City through “InfoTeach” lectures aimed at giving teachers new ideas and opportunities to upgrade their capabilities. The PLDT partners were represented by UPOU Chancellor Grace Javier Alfonso, Sylvia Garde of Intel Philippines, and Ramon Isberto of PLDT and Smart Communication’s Public Affairs. Evelyn del Rosario, head of Community Relations and Public Affairs of PLDT, explained the program theme “Pro-environment Learning for Dedicated Teachers.” In her talk, Alfonso enumerated a number of UPOU services and plans in support of teachers. Alfonso reported that it is partnering with organizations like PLDT, the Commission on Higher Education, the Department of Science and Technology, Quezon Power, Department of Education, LGUs, congressmen and senators for the establishment of scholarship programs. Teachers are usually prioritized in these scholarship programs. She also announced the establishment of more eLearningVilles—UPOU’s new initiatives in promoting education in the rural communities of the Philippines. eLearningVilles will not only provide access to internet facility but also a venue to avail oneself of training and skills development programs. The first eLearningVille was established in Mauban, Quezon also in cooperation with PLDT and other government and non-government agencies. It supports teachers enrolled in UPOU programs by providing them free and discounted access to the internet. Alfonso added that UPOU would soon launch Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) to further promote learner inclusion into the teaching-learning environment. This entails making available selected UPOU courses to everyone who may wish to avail of it. No entry qualifications are required except the desire to learn; no cost to the learner except the cost of time, which will be devoted to learning. As the name implies, the course is open and is for free. “We hope that this initiative will further promote the culture of learning not only among the teachers like you but among other sectors as well. Since this is open, we also take this as a possible opportunity to claim our – I mean us Filipinos – space in the cyberworld,” she said. The chancellor announced that UPOU would be part of the new face of PLDT’s InfoTeach Outreach program, together with its other partner, Intel. Those who will perform well in the InfoTeach Outreach program, according to her, can have the opportunity for advanced studies and be a grantee of the PLDT Scholarship Program at UPOU. Teachers played an important role in the establishment of UPOU. Alfonso recounted UP’s high school teachers training program in the provinces of Laguna, Quezon and Batangas which aimed at upgrading their biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics qualifications through distance education. This initiative validated the efficacy of the mode of instructional delivery employed for this sector: printed modules supplemented with cassette tape recordings of lessons and a once-a-month face to face sessions in UP Los Baños. The program’s success led to instituting a degree program through
Caritos, Guia and Laylo during the open forum
according to her. “Dapat magkaroon ng consequence ‘yung mga flying voters para matuto yung iba at ‘wag gumaya,” Caritos stressed when she presented LENTE’s objective of pursuing criminal and administrative cases against violators of election laws. Dr. Oscar Zamora, Vice-Chancellor for Instruction, gave the welcoming remarks where he challenged the audience to “make some effort in guarding the votes.” “Democracy is not for spectators,” he
emphasized. “There should be a concerted effort by Filipinos to elect the right leader,” he added. “I hope we all takae part in this crusade, [by] being iskolar ng bayan para sa bayan,” Zamora furthered. Prof. Aaron Laylo from the Department of Social Sciences (DSS) acted as the reactor of the forum. He encouraged UPLB students to take the opportunity to exercise “giving back” to the country by volunteering as election watchdogs/
monitors. Dr. Agnes Rola, CPAf dean, closed the forum with an inspiring message, saying “let me revise LENTE’s tagline, ‘nation building star ts here,’ with ‘nation building starts with us’.” Rola also pointed that UP students should embody the “change” that they want to see in society. Mike Lopez and Charmaine Galano, psychology instructors from the DSS, emceed the event.