By DANIEL P. TAPAOAN, JR. 

Faculty members of the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) convened in a training-workshop at the University Main Library, City of Batac on July 9-10 to design the syllabi and course contents of the new general elective (GE) subjects to be offered this First Semester, Academic Year 2020-2021. 

Tailored for the flexible learning mode, these subjects are Environmental Science, People and the Earth’s Ecosystem, Human Reproduction, Living in the IT Era, Philippine Indigenous Communities, Gender and Society, The Entrepreneurial Mind, Great Books, Philippine Popular Culture, Indigenous Creative Crafts, Reading Visual Arts, and Intensive English.

Initiated by the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs, College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), and Extension Directorate (ED), the workshop is in response to the full implementation of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) memorandum order no. 20, s. 2013, also known as the GE Curriculum: Holistic Understandings, Intellectual and Civic Competencies.

MMSU has already revised the curricula of its various undergraduate programs recently which included the offering of these new electives. Thus, the departments handling the subjects needed to develop the syllabi of these subjects. 

Further, the course contents had to be harmonized, subject to enrichment by university teachers, to ensure that these subjects contribute to the attainment of the MMSU institutional outcomes. 

Around 200 faculty members from various colleges participated in the activity. They are from the CAS, College of Agriculture, Food and Sustainable Development (CAFSD), College of Business, Economics and Accountancy (CBEA), College of Industrial Technology (CIT), and College of Aquatic Sciences and Applied Technology (CASAT).

Dr. Marivic M. Alimbuyugen, CAS dean, said while their college takes the responsibility of offering the GE subjects in the Batac campus, faculty members from the other colleges were also tapped to teach the subjects because of their related areas of specialization. 

Dr. Aris Reynold V. Cajigal, ED director, discussed the principles of syllabus preparation during the two-day workshop.

Meanwhile, MMSU President Shirley C. Agrupis commended the faculty members who are always ‘on-the-go’ to uphold academic excellence amid the pandemic.

“The university is blessed to have a strong instructional workforce which gallops over any obstacle on the track of delivering quality education,” she stressed.

Aside from creating the syllabus and contents of the new GE subjects, the university has also started establishing the Flexible Learning Hub and rolled out training series – both face-to-face and webinars – to strengthen the faculty members’ teaching capability in the New Normal academic environment.

“This transition is laborious and tedious, but with our synergy and efforts, we are able to see the direction of our racetrack more clearly. As one MMSU team, we are winning the race,” Dr. Agrupis mused. (StratCom)