In the face of the new normal brought about by Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic and the emergence of Education 4.0, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Bicol Foundation for Higher Education (BFHE) have initiated to conduct trainings in developing flexible learning modules. Thus, Partido State University, through the Partido Institute of Economics (PIE) of the College of Business and Management (CBM), has partnered with other higher education institutions (HEI) in the region to conduct a six-day online training on Module Content Development for Business and Economics Education on July 22-30, 2020.
The online workshops, which consisted of two parallel training sessions for (1) Accountancy and Economics (including Business Economics) and (2) Business Administration, Entrepreneurship, and Office Administration; aimed to capacitate faculty members in business and economics programs in the development of flexible learning modules that meet CHED policies, standards, and guidelines for each program/discipline considering environmental, social, economic, and technological constraints faced by students. Despite a few connectivity problems encountered, a total of 51 HEIs and 155 officials and faculty members from the six provinces of the region actively participated in the training.
PIE Director Rolan Jon G. Bulao, also the President of the Council of Program Heads and Educators of Economics – Bicol Region, was the lead trainer of the CHED-funded training. Trainers and resource persons from PSU and other HEIs also imparted useful concepts and applications of developing flexible modules in various business and economics courses. Other trainers from PSU included School of Graduate Studies Dean Bernadette Gumba, Center for Sustainable Communities Director Cristina Lim, and Bachelor of Information Technology Program Director Kennedy Cuya. The training team was assisted and guided by CHED Education Supervisors Jean Cardino and Karen Iniego.
Training Sessions were conducted synchronously and asynchronously using Google Classroom as main platform. Synchronous lectures used Google Meet and Zoom videoconferencing apps. Asynchronous learning materials, in the form of video and readings, were uploaded in Google Classroom for participants to access anytime during and even after the duration of the training. The final modules developed by the participants have been subjected to the evaluation of content experts from the leading universities in the country. Final versions of the modules shall be uploaded in the Regional Knowledge Management Center managed by Camarines Norte State College and the PHL CHED Connect. This will enable any business and economics educator to download the learning resource materials from such online portals.
The PSU-led regional training on Module Content Development for Business and Economics Education is part of Component 2 of the CHED-funded project titled “Fast Tracking the Retooling of HEIs on Flexible Learning in Region V for Education 4.0,” led by the Ateneo de Naga University. Component 2, which is called Content Development Training for Teachers, was led by the University of Nueva Caceres.
