The second session of the Global Peace Education Webinar Series 2020, “Innovative Solutions to Education Challenges with Moral and Innovative Leadership,” was held on August 4 via Zoom and Facebook Live. A total of 257 participants joined via Zoom and 1,500 viewed by FB Live with 47 shares as of the moment.
Our panelists for this session are Clarissa Segismundo, Education Programs Lead of Microsoft Philippines; Abraham Abanil, Director IV ICT Services of the Department of Education; Stephanie Orlino, Asst. Vice President of Smart Communications; Sheryl Satorre-Estella, Program Consultant of New Energy Nexus-Philippines. The moderator for this session is Jamie Villamor, Executive Vice President of Villamor College of Business and Arts.
This webinar offers answers to pressing questions such as: ◈ What kinds of innovative thinking and practices will ensure the continuity of academic learning of students while navigating through an education crisis? ◈ What does innovation in education means? And what does it look like? ◈ How can digital skills and technology be utilized to drive teacher and student innovation? ◈ How do we stimulate new entrepreneurial approaches and out-of-the-box thinking to speed up needed changes? ◈ How do we re-imagine innovative 21st century education approaches?
Ms. Stephanie Orlino shared about the CVIF Dynamic Learning Program (DLP) developed by Dr. Christopher Bernido and Dr. Ma. Victoria Carpio-Bernido to make sure that no learners will get left behind. This program has been supported by Smart since 2010. It teaches students to be independent since it needs lesser parents and teachers intervention. It is also applicable even if there’s no access on the internet, no gadgets/supplies, and can be used together with other DepEd’s media.
Mr. Sheryl Satorre-Estella’s topic is “Cultivating an Entrepreneurial Mindset to Fuel the 21st Century Skills’. Entrepreneurship means turning plans into actions and is not limited to profit-making institutions. Being able to embrace the challenges and making it work for you is one of the core values of having an entrepreneurial mindset. Right now, there’s a challenge with conducting formal schooling but with the help of having this mindset, some of the burdens and issues on schooling can be solved.
Boosting Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in the Classroom was discussed by Ms. Clarissa Segismundo. Learning is not just focused on academics but is comprised of social and emotional factors. This affects the learners’ motivation and focus on learning. She mentioned about the usage of Microsoft apps to foster SEL within the virtual classroom. She believes that even though distanced by space, technology can assist with the development of SEL on students.
Lastly, Dir.Abraham Abanil introduced the innovations by the Department of education to cope up with the needs of the students and teachers to facilitate learning during the pandemic. He discussed about the Digital Rise Program with three components: Digital Literacy, ICT Assisted Teaching, and ICT Assisted Learning which aims to integrate IT in the current education system. He also mentioned about the DepEd Commons, Learning Management System, TV/Radio School, and DepEd’s Capacity Building on ICT for teachers through webinars to cope up with the current situation of our education system.
Tony Devine, International Vice President for Education of Global Peace Foundation, gave the closing remarks. The pandemic paved the way for us to see another kind of leadership, “moral and innovative” leadership that promotes the greater good rather than individual. If a moral and innovative leader will collaborate with the creativity of individuals, advancing change will be easier. Ideas are results of teamwork so by having a moral and innovative leader/educator who is people-centered, he/she can come up with better solutions for pressing problems of the world especially on education.
Here are some takeaways from our education webinar:
“If young people are equipped with the holistic set of skills from literacy, numeracy and science to flexibility, creativity and teamwork, we can expect to see our societies thrive under new technology and jobs, with a world filled with truly global citizens.” (Elementary School Teacher).
“It is crucial that these innovative solutions must be anchored on moral foundations and people-centered orientation, at the same time learner-centric technology-enabled design and practices. I also appreciate the practical innovative solutions presented by the speakers to engage learners become more self-directed and empowered in navigating the learning courses.” (University Asst. Professor).
“There are so many things we have to consider in education and it requires us to use an inclusive lens. I also appreciate the concept of entrepreneurship in the education system and upon knowing the efforts of DepEd for the incoming academic year. As a mental health advocate, it again gave me new insights to promote the cause. Also, it was nice to know about DLP and the programs of other private entities.” (University student).
Global Peace Foundation Philippines hopes that the lessons and practices shared by the speakers will be impactful and relevant to the participants to make them moral, innovative, and globally competitive in the field of education.