TSU guarantees quality in distance education  

To ensure quality in the university’s flexible learning modality for the upcoming academic year, Tarlac State University president Dr. Myrna Q. Mallari attended two online quality assurance activities on July 23, 2020.

Both the ASEAN QA Forum 2020 of the ASEAN QA Association and consultative meeting of the Commission on Higher Education for distance education in graduate programs are centered on quality assurance and other essential preparations in the “new normal” mode of education

The forum entitled “Going Digital: How Do We Assure Quality in the Shift” is about how various higher education institutions (HEIs) will handle the sudden shift in education delivery due to the pandemic while maintaining quality in the teaching and learning process.

Different HEIs from all over the world gathered online to discuss the preparation for the digitization of classes due to the pandemic. Choosing of learning management system, using of Zoom application for webinars to reach students, and training teachers for module writing were among the preparations presented – most of which have already been undertaken by TSU.

“What is nice is we have done most of what was discussed, but we still have to do more,” Pres. Mallari said in an online message to the university's administrative council.

The speakers are Ms. Miné de Klerk, Hybrid Learning Project manager at Stellenbosch University (South Africa); Dr. Kiran Kaur, director of Quality Management and Enhancement Centre at the University of Malaya (Malaysia); Dr. Klaus HimpslGutermann, head of the Centre for Educational Technology and Innovation, College of Teacher Education, Vienna University (Austria); and Dr. Thomas Strasser, professor of language methodology and technology-enhanced learning at the College of Teacher Education, Vienna University (Austria).

Based on the letter of invitation sent to the university, the forum will be held in a series of online sessions starting in July and culminating with the main Online Forum in October 2020.

Meanwhile, the CHED consultative meeting focused on the sharing of insights on the offering of distance education and transnational education graduate programs and the recalibration of guidelines for relevance and responsiveness.

This consultation was organized because of the sudden online offering of graduate programs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Normally, the offering of distance education is governed by separate guidelines with its own set of requirements.

“We are allowed to go online now because of the pandemic. After the pandemic, may ibang rules na kapag balak ituloy ang online class,” Pres. Mallari said.

She further said that the basic requirement to offer online classes is a level IV accreditation which is already accomplished by the TSU graduate programs.

Pres. Mallari added that along with the preparations for flexible learning, the effectiveness of the its implementation must be ascertained prior to the opening of classes.