(Left) Dr Leung Mei Yee, director of the University General Education of the Chinese University of Hong Kong; (Right) Dr Tina Clemente, associate professor at the Asian Center of UP Diliman. Supplied photos.
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines — The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has mapped out a curriculum for General Education Courses (GECs), emphasizing interdisciplinary learning, which will be rolled out starting June 2018. With this development in higher education, Xavier Ateneo deemed it necessary to retool its faculty on Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning (ITL) before the implementation of the new GECs and its new program, AB Interdisciplinary Studies (AB-IDS).
Through the Bamboo Grant from the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia, Xavier Ateneo came up with a project titled “A Journey Towards a New Paradigm: Transitioning from Discipline-based to Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning” to address the concerns on ITL.
This project is aimed at:
• Developing among the faculty a deeper understanding and appreciation of the paradigm of interdisciplinary teaching and learning (ITL);
• Collaborating with other disciplines and designing an interdisciplinary course; and
• Introducing the different approaches to interdisciplinary teaching and learning towards whole-person education (holistic formation).
The project commenced with a two-day seminar workshop on May 17-18 with 28 participating faculty members from different colleges and schools of Xavier Ateneo.
In collaboration with the United Board through the Bamboo Grant, Xavier Ateneo retools its faculty on Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning before the implementation of the new General Education Courses and its new program, AB Interdisciplinary Studies. Supplied photos.
ITL experts — Dr Leung Mei Yee, director of the University General Education of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and Dr Tina Clemente, associate professor at the Asian Center of UP Diliman — served as resource speakers of the said seminar-workshop.
On its first day, Clemente focused on the “Conceptual, Institutional, and Pedagogical Challenges of Interdisciplinary Approaches in University Education,” while Leung talked about the “Different Approaches to Effective General Education Program.”
XU’s vice-president for academics Fr Rene C Tacastacas SJ and College of Arts and Sciences dean Dr Juliet Q Dalagan, in their messages, expressed their gratitude to the resource speakers for sharing their expertise and time with the XU faculty.
On the last day of the event, the faculty-participants were grouped in an "interdisciplinary manner" where each team is made up of representatives from various courses (eg: Chemistry, Math, Agriculture, and Physics etc) and worked on their tasks with the help of their assigned mentors (Clemente and Leung).
The culminating activity was a reporting of the output of each group. Online mentoring will follow in the succeeding months until the completion of their tasks.∎
In collaboration with the United Board through the Bamboo Grant, Xavier Ateneo retools its faculty on Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning before the implementation of the new General Education Courses and its new program, AB Interdisciplinary Studies. Supplied photos.