We at the UPOU have been asking our students to write, as honestly as they possibly could, their personal journals – their own narratives of how they felt about their courses at UPOU during the semester about to end. These journals, we’ve been emphasizing, don’t influence their grades. We only want them as guides for our own evaluation of how we may have performed as Faculty-In-Charge of our courses. I’m now reading the personal journals of my students in Comm 320, a course under the Doctor of Communication Program. These journals are spread over a wide range of what sound as honest and impartial commentary on how the course was run during the semester. To me, I take these journals as objectively as I could and not personally. Well, that’s how confident I am about my ability to manage my course and its content.
I wish to share with you a randomly picked (meaning, I just got this an hour ago) personal journal, written by Mr. Arnel E. Genzola, a Filipino teaching English at a university in China. Let me reproduce, unedited, his brief journal here. I hope Arnel wouldn’t mind.
The course kicked off in a manner I so like. The course expectations/learning outcomes, exams, required participation, rules and modules topics clearly outlined and elucidated through the Course Guide have been most helpful in properly directing the course and the students. The list of references and reading materials provided me profitable reading and learning experiences, and because the Course Guide is sharply designed, it fostered learner control and facilitated my ability to guide my own learning and to be highly self-regulated and responsible for planning, organizing, monitoring, evaluating, and reflecting on each module topic. Too, the parameters set for the class and certain conventions and guidelines that must be observed on forum discussion, assignment submission, and forum posts, to me, made a lot of sense. For instance, the rule on one discussion thread at any given time for each module and the opening of a module early morning of Saturday and the closing about the same time next Saturday promised greater learning effectiveness appropriate in providing a better quality of interaction and relevant in sustaining dynamic engagement responsive to the needs and challenges of pedagogy and practice in contemporary learning spaces.
I adhere to the commonly held belief that knowledge grows exponentially when shared. The dynamic involvement that took place through active electronic discussion board (EDB) sharing, exchanges, and participation of both the professor and the students made my Comm 320 class experience and learning even more meaningful. This collaboration enriched relationships, encouraged greater interdependency that allowed cross-functional thinking and abilities to be drawn into a healthy exchange of knowledge and ideas, and enhanced the creation of a virtual learning environment that is conducive for personal and professional development. It is from this well-directed and insightful aerobics in exercising and strengthening my grasp of each discussion topic that I gained a better understanding of each module topic, and in particular, the two of the most interesting course topics, systems thinking and the learning disciplines of Senge, akin to distance education deepened my grasp of the significance of interconnectedness of individuals, structures, and processes not only in directing and developing actions and thoughts but also in advancing learning, intensified through dynamic sharing and collaboration.
What could be considered in the future, perhaps, is the inclusion or integration of video conferencing for a session or two. I personally regard such to offer profound impact on the quality of the education experience. I am cognizant of the underlying constraints and limitations, but it would certainly fortify discussions and exchanges especially to topics of great interest. One remarkable feature of this course is the activity after each module requiring learners a synthesis of module topic by relating the same to one’s context of current work and substantive field which is highly creditable because direct application of concepts learned is taking in action benefiting the learner and his or her organization. Many times our EDB was swamped with nifty and edifying comments, observations, remarks, and explications; an obvious manifestation of how we take an active interest and rejoice in the richness of what we are learning. I, myself, have learned a lot from my professor and classmates. It enabled me to build a broad base of knowledge through forum discussion and assigned readings that widened my perspectives on other areas not limiting me to my substantive area. This could be intensified via videoconferencing that supports far greater interaction than is otherwise possible from text-based engagement given the deluge of commentaries and exchanges evident in each module discussion. Believing in the expertise of my professor that I personally look up to for his wit and qualities worthy of emulation, the utilization of videoconferencing will all the more enhance delivery of technology-based instruction and learner engagement.
The class as a learning community benefited everyone on the course because of the maximized participation and engagement in the learning process of both the professor and the students. This continues to thrill and inspire me to pursue this advanced degree. Indeed, the University of the Philippines – Open University is true to its commitment of providing quality higher and continuing education through its excellent faculty members who are breaking new grounds and rearing the standard of excellence utilizing distance education technologies and methodologies that give rise to innovative applications and instructional paradigms that promote and sustain lifelong learning and professional growth.
Thank you, Arnel, for the kind words. I know this applies to all courses and professors of the UPOU. As to Arnel’s suggestion to include videoconferencing among the tools employed in the delivery of the courses, especially under the DComm Program, we happen to be, at the moment, deep into conceptualizing a website for DComm that shall employ multiple techniques and approaches, including use of videos. We hope to be able to construct a highly interactive website where DComm students can interact particularly within specific courses. Needless to say, we are hoping to be able to strengthen the abilities and opportunities of DComm students to engage one another in dynamic exchange of ideas as they journey through their respective courses and other academic activities.
We hope to be able to construct soon the DComm Website, which shall be linked with the FICS website, and the UPOU website. Like I said, we’re just in the conceptualization phase. Still, we know it’s the right direction for the Program.
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