Friday, March 29, 2024

SU-COE Dean presents paper at international webinar

By Kevin Alaban | January 28, 2021

Silliman University (SU) College of Education’s Associate Dean presented a paper in the 1st Philippine-Kenya Education Network’s (PEN)  Webinar on Teacher Education last January 25. 

Dr. Gina Fontejon Bonior, associate and current acting Dean of the SU College of Education, along with her co-researcher and Dean of Negros Oriental State University’s (NORSU) College of Teacher Education, Dr. Libertine Cepe de Guzman, presented “Being and Becoming in the New Normal: Student Teaching Internship Practices in selected TEIs in Dumaguete City, Philippines.”  

“To prepare them [students] into a student internship, they were given orientations on how classes could be possibly handled online in varied forms. They were also oriented on how to use the module as an instructional method for distanced mode, which is also used by the Department of Education to reach the learners who do not have the gadgets and connectivity,” said de Guzman. 

For SU, the Student Teaching Internship Practice for graduating students in the first semester of academic year 2020-2021 was conducted with the SU’s School of Basic Education through the online teaching modality. 

“While classes in the first semester started in mid-August of 2020, student teachers were not deployed until mid-October or about two months later. This was to give an ample time for the cooperating  teachers at the School of Basic Education who were also teaching on full online distance mode for the first time,” Bonior said.

Photo credits: Silliman University College of Education Student Organization Facebook Page

The webinar also highlighted another speaker, Prof. Anne Nangulu, Economic Historian and professor of History at Moi University,Kenya who presented her paper entitled, “Teacher Education, Pedagogical Innovations, and Quality Assurance in Times of COVID-19.” 

Prof. Nangalu Nangulu mentioned the importance of acknowledging the emerging issues when planning for curriculum development. She also stressed on the importance of collaboration with certain people, especially those who are in telecommunications. 

“We need to linger with industry, particularly handling technological innovations and telecommunication. It has become very expensive. It is to the educators to recap with industry, through researching together, and show that technology is no longer a luxury, but it is a necessity and a way of life for teacher education,” Nangulu said.  

“If we do that collaboration, then teacher education, learning and teaching will be sustainable,” Nangulu further said. “Collaboration has risen to a new level in new normal, it has now become a necessity,” Alice Fe Lavina, a participating viewer and faculty from Presbyterian Theological College affirmed. 

With the theme, “Recover and Revitalize Education for COVID-19 Generation,” the 2-hour PEN webinar is one of SU-College of Education Student Organization’s events during the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s celebration of the International Day of Education. The event discussed the current situation of education especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

PEN is an organization composed of Teacher Education Institutions from Kenya and the Philippines, namely: Kenyatta University, University of Nairobi, Migori Teachers Training College, Moi University, University of Kabianga, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, SU, St. Paul University of Dumaguete, NORSU and Foundation University. 

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Latest articles