Page 113 - 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

experiences of blended, online, and open learning facilitated the provision of
feedback during the synchronous sessions but this may not have been su cient.

The one-on-one consultations for each institution in Module 7 partially addressed

the concern, but only 30% of the participating institutions that completed the six
modules opted to participate in Module 7.

Sustainability and Transferability
Philippine HEIs, especially during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, have been

compelled to evaluate how they can help build a more robust, responsive, and

sustainable higher education system. Some aspects of this process are beyond the
control of the HEIs themselves. For one, there is a need for clearer policies and

frameworks, and more concrete support from the government with regard to the

implementation of blended, open, and online learning.
As a capacity-building program on blended, online, and open learning,

SIBOL can be further improved by fully adopting the UDL principles concerning
engagement, representation, action, and expression. Perhaps di erent versions of

the training modules to address the needs of specific domains or academic
disciplines, for example, humanities, social science, or STEM, could also be

developed. Also, forums, colloquia, and seminar-workshops could be held as part

of the training phase as well as the mentoring phase (Phase 2) of SIBOL. One
example is the forum, ‘Technology-supported Teaching and Learning in Higher

Education,’ held on the seventh of February 2023 at UPOU where representatives
from the participating institutions of the BUKA project shared their institutional

practices and projects related to blended, online, and open learning. These

activities would serve as spaces for networking and allow a community of practice
to sprout (“sibol” or “sumibol” in Filipino).

References

Arinto, P., Borromeo, R. M., Garcia, P., Marcial, A. K., Raymundo, M. R., Gelisan, L.,
Suarez, M., & Verena, R. M. (2022, September 1). Sustainable institution

building for open learning [Conference presentation]. Pan Commonwealth

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