Summary
Highlights
Dr. Grace Javier Alfonso discusses U.P. Open University's (UPOU) role in open, distance, and e-learning since 2001. She highlights the transition of academic texts from hard print to hypertext, visual text, and hypermedia, driven by the internet. UPOU embraced online learning to enhance student experiences and reach more Filipinos globally, with students now in over 60 locations across 40+ countries. The university's minimal investment in physical infrastructure facilitated this shift to online delivery and digital printing.
In 2007, UPOU adopted resource-based learning, utilizing the internet's rich open educational resources (OERs). The university recognized the need to be producers and contributors of OERs, not just consumers, to share Filipino perspectives globally. This led to the establishment of UPOU networks for educational videos and workshops to guide OER creation and distribution. In 2013, UPOU launched its first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Android apps, followed by many more collaborations, emphasizing openness and free access to higher education.
Dr. Alfonso shares her specific courses, which integrate interactive print with video references. In courses like 'Gender and Multimedia,' she considers her classes as research classes, facilitating maximum exchange of ideas through online forums. Students submit multimedia research requirements, with their work contributing to new knowledge in the discipline. Students are viewed as co-creators of academic texts, evident from thousands of student-produced videos on gender and multimedia available on YouTube and Vimeo.
Dr. Alfonso discusses her course 'Art in ASEAN Region,' which aims to expand and enhance Audience Studies by incorporating authentic voices from diverse ASEAN cultures. Recognizing that written words alone cannot convey authenticity, the course uses documentaries. These documentaries capture the voices of artists, architects, cultural sociologists, and other stakeholders, promoting orality and visuality as crucial forms of literacy. This approach emphasizes cultural diversity as a strength of the ASEAN region.
Collaborating with five ASEAN open universities, UPOU designed an online course leveraging multimedia to redefine academic partnerships. This approach makes teaching, learning, and research participatory, constructivist, and collaborative. Students engage in documentary making, capturing authentic voices from their communities, thus promoting multiculturalism. Course requirements include a synthesis paper, an ASEAN art forum for sharing useful articles, and a multimedia research forum where students submit their original video documentaries. Students also review and critique their classmates' work, becoming active agents in preserving and promoting cultural heritage.
ODeL is presented as a framework, philosophy, and worldview for an increasingly open and interconnected world. Educational institutions need to adapt teaching and learning approaches to the demands of the global and digital age. The goal is to produce graduates who can seek, research, communicate knowledge in various forms, and translate information into action across different cultural contexts. These graduates should be innovative, creative, critical thinkers, make evidence-based decisions, and possess strong communication skills. Open education offers possibilities to transform lives and nations.