Page 108 - Reimagining Higher Education : Case Studies On Designing For Inclusion, Equity, And Access In The Buka Project

A. K. T. Marcial et al. · Sustainable Institution Building for Open Learning (SIBOL) Initiative

- University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU), Philippines

the National Capital Region) and four were from Region IVA, which is near Metro
Manila. There were only two participating HEIs from the Visayas, which is

composed of three regions, and two participating HEIs from Mindanao, which is

composed of six regions. The ideal would have been at least one HEI from each of
the 17 regions comprising the Philippines since the adoption of blended and online

learning is part of CHED’s vision for a more flexible higher education system. This

representativeness is also necessary to develop institutional leaders in ODL, as
envisioned by the Open and Distance Learning Act (2014). However, institutional

readiness for ODL is essential, which implies that participation in the training
programme should be voluntary on the part of HEIs. To encourage more

participants from HEIs in Visayas and Mindanao, there could be future iterations of
the training programme for each area.

Providing more Institution-focused Feedback

Noting di erences in institutional and individual experiences with blended, online,

and open learning, the UPOU BUKA team applied principles from the Universal
Design for Learning (UDL) framework (CAST, 2022) in developing the training

materials. Learning resources were provided in di erent formats, such as pages in
the VLE, files in portable document format (PDF), videos, annotated readings, and

presentation slides. Moreover, the discussion questions encouraged reflection on

institutional practice, attendance in the online synchronous sessions was not
mandatory for all team members, and everybody had access to the recorded

sessions.

However, the diversity of institutional experiences and levels of engagement
with blended, online, and open learning made it di cult to address specific

concerns and provide more focused feedback. To address this, the participating
HEIs were grouped according to similarities in institutional context, and di erent

members of the UPOU BUKA team were assigned to mentor each group. Grouping
the participating HEIs according to similarities in institutional context facilitated a

more productive exchange of ideas among the participants and between the

participants and the training team.

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