ON DECEMBER 15, 2018, a Celebration of Learning was held in RDR Gym, Mankilam, Tagum City to culminate the Massive Open Online Course Fall 2018 on Professional Development for Teacher Trainers by the Arizona State University through Canvas.
A total of 1,155 educators completed the course.
The educators were part of the MOOC, an online platform that allows professionals in different parts of the globe to collaborate the latest trends and practices in different fields.
The MOOC is a purely short online course partnered with renowned universities. This has been widely utilized by many professionals in the world who can’t afford to attend to a regular classroom setting due to hectic work schedule. Hence, this portal of studies does not require ample time for this is a self-paced system.
The United States (US) Department of State, in partnership with the prestigious US universities through the aide of MOOC platform providers, created a virtual community of educators. The system aims to assist them to grow personally and professionally in the global education system standard.
In January 2013, some US embassies began to make this program available to people especially to educators of other countries. Since then, it has offered a wide array of courses suited to each teaching specialization ranging from journalism writing and English grammar and language to science and technology.
In the duration of MOOC, the course is subdivided into modules where you can explore through the videos of discussions, interviews, or demonstrations which are all directed by an expert education trainer; engage yourself with some activities provided; and exercise the concept through a practicum or immersion into the local context. However, every student has also the chance to exhibit best practices of each country in a particular field of expertise through posting them on a commentary box transparent to all viewers or students.
Each MOOC student is called to be a MOOCer. In a place where a number of MOOCers situated, there is a sub-camp which is supervised by a team leader who is an alumnus of the program and is familiar to the material and the features of a MOOC platform provider. A series of meet-ups will be administered to assist those who are new to this mode of learning and exchange learned ideas.
The event last December 15, 2018 was made possible through US Embassy Philippines Regional English Language Officer Harold R. Samuels, US Embassy Philippines Education Program Specialist Malcolm Flores, US Embassy Philippines Asst. Cultural Affairs Officer Ryan G. Bradeen, Schools Division of Davao del Norte, Provincial Government of Davao del Norte, MOOC Guru Dr. Rebecca C. Sagot, and 65 sub-camp team leaders. (Mark Fil L. Tagsip)