Ateneo conducts benchmarking in preparation for Open and Distance Education Learning

Administrators from Ateneo de Manila University recently paid visits to other higher education institutions to conduct benchmarking. The benchmarking visits were done to assess Ateneo's readiness to launch Open and Distance Education Learning (ODEL) for a select number of graduate programs.

Taking part in the benchmarking visits were Dr Anne Lan K Candelaria, Assistant Vice President for Graduate Education; and Dr Andrei D Coronel, ODEL Lead Coordinator.

As Lead Coordinator, Dr Coronel collaborates closely with Dr Candelaria in crafting and refining policies, and desiging organizational structures to ensure the successful implementation of Ateneo’s ODEL initiatives. He’s also tasked with collecting and analyzing data from stakeholders, benchmarking industry best practices, and assessing necessary resources, including those from other higher education institutions.

Dr Candelaria and Dr Coronel first visited Mapua University in Intramuros on 3 October 2024. Here, they looked at how Mapua conducts its ODEL courses.

As part of this, Dr Candelaria and Dr Coronel met with Dr Jonathan V Macayan, Dean of Mapua's Institute of Digital Learning (IDL); and Engineer Ericson D Dimaunahan, Mapua's Director of Operations, Technology and Analytics.

On 10 October 2024, Dr Candelaria and Dr Coronel conducted another benchmarking visit, this time to the University of the Philippines, Open University (UPOU) in Los Baños, Laguna. UPOU is the constituent university of the UP system focused on distance learning, making it an ideal institution for benchmarking for ODEL.

At UPOU, Dr Candelaria and Dr Coronel met with Dr Myra Collado Almodiel, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information and Communication Studies (FICS) and also the Director of UPOU's Office of Public Affairs (OPA).

These visits were conducted to evaluate whether Ateneo is ready to implement ODEL for a select number of graduate programs. Dr Candelaria and Dr Coronel specifically looked at Mapua's and UPOU's policies, teaching (pedagogy), as well as both schools' information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure and organization.

Further benchmarking visits for ODEL programs are set to take place in the near future. Dr Candelaria and Dr Coronel are scheduled to visit the University of Santo Tomas. They're coordinating with Asst Prof Jerralyn T Padua, UST's Assistant to the Rector for Information and Communications Technology, to set up a meeting with the UST Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, and their Dean, Dr Ma. Lourdes Maglinao.