The Institute of Weed Science, Entomology and Plant Pathology (IWEP) conducted a workshop on “Strengthening of IWEP Graduate Degree Program through OBE” last July 26-27 at the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), Tagaytay City.
The OBE is referred to as Outcome-Based Education, a paradigm shift in pedagogy adopted by UPLB in line with the university’s commitment for quality assurance. The workshop, attended by the faculty and staff of IWEP, started with opening remarks from IWEP Director Sheryl A. Yap who welcomed and thanked everyone for their participation. It was followed by the presentation of workshop objectives and mechanics by Dr. Augusto C. Sumalde (chair, Curriculum Committee) who enumerated the guide questions, activities and expected outputs.
Afterwards, Dr. Aimee Lynn Dupo (college secretary, Graduate School) gave an overview of graduate school OBE. She discussed the institutional outcomes of UP as the national university, emphasizing the expectations of an ideal graduate from UP, the university’s desired impact to society, and UP’s vision and mission. She also presented the program learning outcomes common to all MS and PhD programs of the university. These pieces of information served as basis for the identification of learning outcomes for the specific degree programs of IWEP.
The rest of Day 1 was dedicated for small group discussions. Faculty and staff of each degree program (MS/PhD Entomology, MS/PhD Plant Pathology and to be instituted MS/PhD Weed Science) gathered together to determine the graduate program vision, and to formulate their specific program learning outcomes. Their relevance to the institutional outcomes was acknowledged. Key skills and competencies expected from MS and PhD graduates of each degree program were also identified.
Furthermore, the courses per graduate degree program were revisited, and initially mapped according to the learning outcomes. Revisions for some courses, as well as institution of new courses, were also proposed.
Day 2 of the workshop was dedicated to synthesis and presentation of OBE education program outline outputs from each graduate degree program. Comments and suggestions from the group were recorded and considered. The workshop ended with a closing message from Dr. Sumalde as he expressed his gratitude for the cooperation of faculty and staff in the activity and their efforts in maintaining the high quality standard of instruction of IWEP. (CHRTabernilla, photo courtesy by JPMOpulencia)
First posted in AGG Newsletter for the month of October 2019
