Faculty In-Service Training 2022
Education is unfolding the wings of the head and heart together. The job of a teacher is to push the students out of the nest to strengthen their wings. Teachers need to equip themselves with adequate knowledge and enough strength to unfold the wings of the head and heart of the students thus they will know how to spread their wings and soar to greater heights when they finally go out of their nest.
To prepare the teachers of Midway Colleges, for the forthcoming 1st semester of Academic Year 2022-2023, the institution provided a 10-day faculty in-service training to revitalize the skills of the teachers and pour them necessary teaching strategies which are appropriate for the new Institution’s Learning Continuity Plan- Phase II which is the Blended Learning. It is defined by Friesen, 2021 as an approach to learning that combines face-to-face and online learning experiences. Ideally, each (both online and off) will complement the other by using its particular strength.
The faculty in-service training commenced on August 22, 2022, with a theme: “Re-engineering Outcomes-based Education through HyFlex Learning” The 1st day of the training was facilitated by Ms. Karen Gaetos, a faculty from the Senior High School Department, together with Ms. Rialuz Celindro, a faculty member of General Education Department. It started with the arrival and registration of the participants, wherein they received a training kit composed of an envelope, blank sheets, a ballpen, and a coffee and biscuits. Along with the training, the kit was a name tag with a respective QR code which is to be scanned for digital attendance.
When the participants were finally gathered in the Academic Building 1 of Midway Colleges, Inc. The program began with the prayer and the singing of the national anthem. The hosts of the event reminded the body of the house rules and some protocols which should be adhered to during the training.
An energizer was conducted to set the mood of the crowd. After all these preliminary activities, the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Sabino Czar Cloma Manglicmot II, delivered his welcome remarks to officially open the program. It was followed by the introduction of the Organizational Chart of the Midway Colleges which was delivered by Ms. Maria Luisa Bellen Ascue. Afterward, the academic director of the institution once again refreshed the minds of the faculty regarding the Vision, Mission, Goals, Objectives, and core values of MCI.
Tailed next were the milestones and plans of the academic department. This was also comprehensively discussed by Dr. Oandasan.
Giving everyone a glimpse of what the 10-day training would look like, the General Education Coordinator, Mr. Jan Ashley D. Casco presented the training roadmap. Furthermore, the employees were reoriented regarding the key academic policies and processes. The Learning Continuity Plan was discussed to guide the faculty on how they should execute the Hyflex learning in the class. Aside from that, the learning materials which the instructors shall use in their classes were presented. The learning packs of the institution are composed of the Course Guide and Learning Guide. Moreover, the process of assessments and grading system was also shown to give the faculty an idea of the modifications that were made out of the last edition of the grading template and assessment plan. In addition, Mr. Robie Mar A. Dayto and Dr. Richard L. Oandasan have reminded the faculty of the video conferencing policy and attendance monitoring.
Come the second day, Ms. Jovelyn Alberto and Ms. Jessa Amor Necesito, both from the College of Business, facilitated the training. It followed the same preliminary activities, however, this time the Human Resource discussed the faculty 360-Evaluation Processes. After the discussion, the floor was opened for some queries from the body. The succeeding topic discussed was the Academic Support Services. These are the partner departments of the Academic. Among these academic supports are the Library Department, OSA, Discipline, and Guidance Registrar’s Office, Registrar’s Office, and Sickbay. Ms. Arlyn Bayeng, the college librarian, discussed how to utilize the library, and what are the available teaching and learning materials in the library. In the person of Dr. Jemuel Roque, the services provided by the Office of the Students’ Affairs, Discipline, and Guidance, were also hereby explained. The same goes for the services which the registrar can offer and so as the sickbay.
Additionally, the IT Department in the person of Mr. Jeffrey Boticario also discussed the Technology-aided instructions: such as the MS Teams Orientation, Tips and Tricks, and New Emerging Educational Platforms. This is to ensure that the employees are well-versed in the learning management system used in the institution. Afterward, Mr. Franz Harvey Quinto, from the IT Department, demonstrated how to use MS Teams and other educational platforms.
The training finally came to its third day, it was facilitated by Mr. Kenneth Lustre, a faculty from the Senior High School Department. On this day, the institution invited a very able and very expert resource speaker, none other than Dr. Jerome T. Buenviaje, the Dean of the College of Education at the University of the Philippines, Diliman Campus. The program started with the same preliminary routines, then Dr. Richard L. Oandasan introduced the resource speaker of the day.
Dr. Buenviaje discussed HyFlex Learning: Pedagogical Techniques and Integrative Assessment for Blended Learning. The training seemingly looked like a simulation of actual HyFlex Learning. This is to provide purposive experience to the faculty thus they will how the class should look when the Academic Year finally begins.
The body was asked to create a course guide labeling which topic should be discussed on-site and online. This will serve as their guide so the distribution of the topic and its mode of delivery will be synchronized.
Days passed by in abrupt that no one noticed that it was already the fifth day, the same routines were followed: scanning of the attendance, prayer, house rules reminder, and the recap of the previous day. On this day, Mr. Frank Justin Santos and Miss Lorraine Hidalgo were the hosts. They executed some icebreakers to enliven the crowd. Afterward, Mr. Jan Ashley Casco, the General Education Coordinator, discussed the guidelines of revisiting the learning packs and realigning assessments through the lens of blended learning. Since the mode of the instructional delivery has been modified too hence, the need to modify some areas of the learning packs to make them aligned with the newly implemented mode of delivery.
After Mr. Casco discussion, the body was asked to go to their respective department to start the modifications of their teaching materials. The revision of the teaching-learning materials lasted until the 6th day of the training.
Moving forward, the faculty was also given ample time to revisit their assessment plans and update them. The revision of the assessment plan lasted until the 8th day of the training.
In a wrap, the In-SeT committee decided to conclude the training with a mock team teaching. This is to finally showcase what the faculty have learned in the 10-day training. The body was divided into a cluster, and they have to prepare a teaching demonstration wherein they shall deliver it using the blended teaching approach.
The mock team teaching happened on the 9th day of the training. It was facilitated by Ms. Kimberly Roxas, a faculty from the College of Business. The guidelines for the team-teaching demonstration and the scoring system were discussed by Mr. Robie Mar A. Dayto, the chair of the event. At exactly 0900H the mock team-teaching began until all the clusters were able to demonstrate their teaching skills.
In a nutshell, Midway always allot the last day of the training for the Organizational Development Conference. The committee invited Ms. Adel, for a talk on how to strengthen the bond among the employees. She shared some fun activities which promoted camaraderie, collaboration, and open communication among the members of the Midway community. Aside from that, the committee also prepared some light activities which made the ODC more memorable. The activities include a CrossFit challenge, solving a puzzle with a blindfolded eye, building a tower out of scotch tape and papers, climbing a tree, and fetching waters using only the available materials on hand.
The training was concluded with the awarding where the Social Science Cluster had been the recipient of the Best in Mock Team-Teaching, the Pink and Red Team were both hailed as the champion during the recent ODC, and Ms. Gaetos, from the Senior High School Department, garnered the Ms. OOTD award.
The Faculty In-Set for the 1st term of A.Y. 2022-2023 had set with a clear voyage plan, had gone underway bumpy, however it docked safely. It made the faculty more the equipped with the necessary knowledge, more skillful, and more than ready to face the new challenges that this new teaching-learning modality has to offer.