ADL (ADAPTIVE DESIGN FOR LEARNING) TO BE OFFERED TO 12 PRIVATE SCHOOL SYSTEMS IN JANUARY 2021

This coming January 2021, the ADL Professional Certificate Course will be offered to over 200 teachers from 12 private school systems, thanks to Ateneo de Manila’s partnership with the Private Education Assistance Committee (PEAC).

Last December 10, 2020, AdMU President, Fr. Roberto Yap SJ, signed a Memorandum of Agreement with PEAC Executive Director, Rhodora Angela F. Ferrer, formalizing the partnership.

The partnership enables the Ateneo SALT Institute to offer the training in a high-impact manner by targeting school systems rather than simply offering the course to individual teachers. It is worth noting that the same approach has been employed in the ongoing ADL training of teachers from the Philippine Science High School System.

The cohorts of the PEAC-sponsored ADL training will be coming from the lesser-resourced school systems, which have been prioritized in the selection process–an outreach made possible by the VTL Teacher Education Endowment Fund.

ADL began when the Ateneo SALT Institute was commissioned last summer by the Ateneo de Manila to lead the university’s efforts to migrate to online learning. After a series of consultations on what the Ateneo brand of online learning should look like, the SALT team designed a fully online professional certificate course to be offered to the university’s faculty and formators.

What makes Adaptive Design for Learning (or ADL) unique is that unlike other online learning training courses, its emphasis is not so much on the use of technology although it certainly includes that, suggesting a wide array of possible tools that educators can use in coming up with their online courses. Rather, it focuses unflinchingly on the design of online learning in the current context–during a pandemic where stress levels are high and in a country where internet access remains an issue for both students and teachers.

Since then, nearly 3,000 educators have undergone the professional certificate course, mostly from the network of Jesuit schools and universities. The recent grand alumni homecoming of the Ateneo de Manila–appropriately dubbed as “Ateneo Magis Hopecoming” recognized the efforts of all educators of Ateneo de Manila in reinventing themselves as 21st-century educators by awarding them the MAGIS HEROES AWARD.

PEAC Executive Director Doris Ferrer expressed her enthusiasm over this partnership with the Ateneo de Manila and stressed how the ADL Professional Certificate Course aligns with the mission of PEAC.

The Ateneo SALT Institute looks forward to interacting with–and learning from–this new cohort of educators from the private schools in the new year.