Students are now learning on their own, from their homes, without the teacher and their classmates constantly there to help them. It’s a learning environment that is not at all conducive to learning. It is no wonder that educators have started to think about how they might develop agency in students. The 2nd Edukampyon Webinar Series, through a partnership between Rex Education, Ateneo Teacher Center, and Ateneo SALT, addressed this pressing concern.
The Edukampyon webinar series ran on Saturday mornings from February 15 to May 15, 2021.
The 12-webinar series was an offering under Edukampyon, Rex Education’s ongoing initiative which hopes to “engage and empower education duty bearers that they may better respect, protect, and fulfill every Filipino learner’s right to quality education.” The 2nd Edukampyon webinar series on Learner agency was designed to build capacities for making our learners champions of their own learning.
The series was streamed live every Saturday morning on the Rex Education FB page and the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) FB page to a very participative audience of educators from way up north like Narvacan, Ilocos Sur and down south like Sto. Nino, South Cotabato…and viewers from as far away as the Middle East, US, and Canada.
The webinar series defined learner agency as having the power to act. Our learner agency framework has 3 components – believing that they CAN achieve their full potential, setting goals and having the WILL and intention to pursue these dreams and goals, and being equipped with the skills to pursue these goals including hurdling the bumps along the way.
Veteran educators known for their expertise in these different components shared their best practices and research findings:
I CAN ACHIEVE!
- Dr. Cara Fernandez (Growth Mindset and Learner Agency)
- Mrs. Jeraldine Ching (Meeting the Students’ Relatedness Needs)
I HAVE THE WILL AND INTENTION!
- Dr. Isabel Martin (Learner Agency: Issues in Higher Education)
- Mrs. Solvie Nubla-Lee (Developing Learner Agency Amidst Adverse Conditions)
- Mr. Ryan Bulosan (Building Lifelong Learners through Personal and Academic Goal Setting)
- Dr. Margarita Ladrido (The Role of Beliefs in Student Agency)
I AM EQUIPPED TO REACH MY GOALS!
- Mrs. Kara Decloedt (Rubrics and Feedback: Do you use them as power tools in your teaching?)
- Mrs. Theresa Ladrido (Inquiry Tasks and PBL to Nurture Learner Agency)
- Mrs. Rita Atienza (Gradually Letting Go until They Can Stand on Their Own)
- Mrs. Rita Atienza (Language that Builds Learner Agency)
- Mr. Galvin Ngo (Motivating Learners to Act with Technology)
- Mr. Ryan Bulosan (Developing the New Literacies)
Many participants commented that the sessions were informative and useful. And there was indeed much to take away!
Dr. Fernandez pointed out that it is easier to finish a big task if teachers and students celebrate the small wins along the way! Mrs. Decloedt recounted how students in their school now ask for the rubric at the beginning of every unit, track these rubrics as the unit progresses, self-assess with the rubrics and are often stricter on themselves than teachers are! Mrs. Nubla-Lee emphasized how receiving scholarships is just the beginning of a scholar’s journey – they must be prepared for the experience, and assisted and mentored during the experience, and even beyond! This is the scaffolding to succeed in the real world that our scholars–and all other students–need. Mr. Bulosan spoke about the need for students to be information- and media-literate if they are to be able to achieve their goals in this data-rich, technology-driven world.
The PRC has accredited the webinar-series for 15 CPD points for those participants who completed the 12-webinar series and the accompanying evaluation tools.
Interested to listen to the webinars yourself? You can watch the recordings here in the Rex Education FB Page.