To improve teaching and learning through collaboration, the Partido State University through the School of Graduate Studies (SGS) conducted two webinars for DepEd teachers specifically for Tigaon District.
The first was a Webinar in Reading Literacy on July 20-23, and the second on Numerical Literacy was on July 29-30, 2020. These were conceptualized to increase the capacity of DepEd teachers in teaching Reading and Math. The webinars address the alarming result of the 2018 Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) where Philippines ranked last in Reading and second to the last in Mathematics and Science of the 79 countries included in the assessment.
The webinars were the start-up activities for the one-year collaborative project between PSU and DepEd. In the opening program, PSU President, Dr. Raul G. Bradecina, was overwhelmed that finally the collaborative project started. He expressed that all these efforts of PSU are towards achieving quality education in Partido area. He also stressed how education can improve the economy of Partido and the region and uplift the quality of life of each family. On the other hand, the Public Schools District Supervisor of DepEd Tigaon District, Mr. Roberto Bayonito, expressed high hopes that the teachers will learn so much from the webinars.
PSU was able to tap two experts as Resource Persons. Dr. Felicitas E. Pado is a national figure in Reading. She was a former Professor in UP Diliman and upon her retirement focused on CHED as a member of the Technical Panel on Teacher Education and Chair of the Early Childhood Education Committee. Dr. Nenette L. Abrigo, is a Professor in Universidad de Santa Isabel and designated as the Executive Director of Quality Assurance. Discussions were on the problems in teaching the Reading and Mathematics and strategies on how to teach the subjects effectively among kindergarten, Grades 1-3 and Grades 4-6. Online workshops were done by the participants for the two webinars. Both Resource Persons received a thumbs up in the online evaluation conducted after each webinar. And both webinars also received positive feedback from the participants despite the “newness” of using zoom as the new learning platform.
A total of 78 participants attended the Webinar in Reading Literacy and 113 for Webinar in Numerical Literacy. This was over and above the target of 70 teachers in the 23 elementary schools in Tigaon District.
The one-year-collaborative project is under the leadership of the SGS Dean, Dr. Bernadette G. Gumba. Dr. Mariel R. Estrella is implementing it as the Project Leader and study leaders Nora Bacares and Marilou Barcela for the Research component and Dr. Wendy Solo and Yumi Vivien De Luna for the Extension component. (MREstrella)
