With the dynamic learning landscape, challenges in teaching are indeed inevitable. As such, to support teaching excellence in higher education, faculty members and representatives from the Teaching and Learning Resource Center attended the recent run of the Teaching and Learning Activities for SUCs, or “TaLAS: Building a Teaching Effectiveness Program,” on November 21-22, 2023, at the UP School of Economics.
TaLAS was organized by the UP Diliman Office for the Advancement of Teaching (UP OAT) under the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and was attended by faculty members and representatives from the different Learning Resource Centers (LRCs) across the different UP constituent universities.
UP Visayas was represented by faculty members from the different colleges, namely Asst. Prof. Joemel G. Sumbing from the School of Technology, Asst. Prof. Jonalyn P. Mateo from the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, Asst. Prof. Ysabella P. Cainglet from the College of Management, and Asst. Prof. Pearl Angeli P. Pedroso from the College of Arts and Sciences.
Along with the faculty members were representatives from the Teaching and Learning Resource Center Asst. Prof. Katherine T. Valencia, the current Officer-in-Charge of TLRC, and Yan Esquivel, University Extension Associate.
Throughout the two-day run of the course, the participants were introduced to the different concepts and principles of adult education, multimodal learning, learner-centered education, and practical tips for designing programs for adult learners.
The participants were also introduced to the MISMO framework, which is an acronym for Mindsets, Intended Outcomes, Starting Context, Modular Steps, and Options & Alternatives, a design process for teaching effectiveness programs developed by Habi Education Lab, the official partner of UP OAT in the conduct of the TaLAS course.
Concepts discussed in the course were anchored within the mission, vision, and core values of the University of the Philippines, as well as global quality assurance standards and UP’s own strategic plan for 2023-2029.
The TaLAS course left no stone unturned as the different steps from the MISMO framework were exemplified in the different activities and output-oriented tasks.
By the end of the TaLAS course, representatives of UPV were able to develop a plan for the implementation of a program geared towards upskilling faculty members to develop and design multimedia materials for class utilization through multimodal strategies following the MISMO framework.
It is to be noted that two of the participants, Mateo and Esquivel, were able to attend the same program last year via Zoom, and the output they developed was used as a foundation for the conduct of TLRC’s TeLeMETRICS (Teaching and Learning Materials for Education, Tutorial, Research, Instruction, and Classroom Support), a teaching effectiveness program for the development of multimedia materials.
The representatives of UPV are set to conduct an echo-training following their participation in the TaLAS course.
