“I congratulate you all because you hurdled seclusion, and because you all worked hard to produce tangible outputs”, thus expressed Dr. Rexton F. Chakas in his closing message during the Teacher Education Department Seminar-Writeshop held on October 3-4, 2019 at Villas Buenavista, San Juan, La Union.
Dr. Chakas further implied that the activity could serve as a springboard for the realization of an institutional procedure for developing instructional materials (IMs), rubrics, and creative works by the faculty members.
The TED Writeshop was conceptualized to address the dearth of standardized procedures in IMs development in the College, and a realization of which speaks of a well-rounded institution of higher education. While it is integral for MPSPC faculty members to create and utilize IMs, it is also imperative for them to adopt standardized, research-based procedures in developing and implementing these IMs in their teaching practices. There is also an expectation that since this process is a highly pedagogical activity, teacher educators should embrace that role of initiating moves towards the realization of such mandate. Dr. Chakas emphasized that it is very ironical that IMs and creative works emanate from the Teacher Education Department but the TED faculty themselves do not have a standardized procedure in developing and utilizing these works. These challenges have prompted the department to conduct this activity to fill in the gaps in teachers’ practices on IMs development and utilization.
Forty-five faculty members of TED from the Bontoc and the Tadian campuses attended the 2-day workshop. Apart from the production of tangible outcomes, the activity also served as an opportunity for the faculty members from both campuses to undertake collaborative work in relation to the goals of the writeshop and to strengthen their mutual relationship found on a common goal. Ms. Syleshia K. Pangesfan of the School of Advanced Studies and Dr. Jonnelle D. Fagsao served as resource speakers on IMs development procedures. Both faculty members shared their actual experiences on the process that they used in developing IMs like an outcomes-based worksheet and learning modules. In addition, Dr. Mark Preston Lopez served as resource speaker on rubric development and validation. He shared his actual experience at the University of Florida on modifying and validating a rubric for assessing teachers’ practices, and the resulting research study was published in a scopus-indexed journal, TESOL Quarterly.
As a result of the collaborative work among the faculty members, two essential outcomes emerged. First was a generic, standardized procedure for IMs development adaptable to the various forms being utilized in MPSPC like workbook, laboratory manual, learning module, and teacher’s manual. This set of procedures could also be adapted across the content areas or courses being offered in the College. A corresponding detailed description of standardized procedures for developing IMs were also crafted during the activity. These procedures bear an MPSPC trademark because during the brainstorming sessions, emphasis was given to adopting steps that integrate the local culture and language of Mountain Province and the Cordilleras to the development of IMs.
The second outcome was related to a generic procedure on developing and validating a rubric for evaluating instructional materials. Again, the procedures developed by the faculty members corresponded to the 4 types of IMs being used in MPSPC. Integral to the development of the procedures, the different groups also developed their own rubrics to evaluate IMs by integrating both the theoretical and research-based practices provided during the seminar that preceded the writeshop.
During the closing program, Dr. Lopez informed the group that the next step shall be the consolidation and analysis of these outputs for packaging. He expressed his plan to convene a committee comprised of faculty members from the both campuses and the 2 department chairpersons to consolidate and analyse the outputs. The committee shall also conduct a thorough review of the said outputs in order to strengthen their adaptability, flexibility, and generalizability. After the packaging, the documents will be sent to highly qualified external evaluators, including Ms. Janet Lynn Montemayor of BSU and Dr. Maria Coady of the College of Education, University of Florida. Their inputs will again be consolidated for the final packaging and dissemination.
