Erlyn Sana: the NTTCHP Dean

The first time I was meeting her, I thought she would be stern, but she was cheerful and casual.  She was very open and she didn't withhold --not one bit of  a-- chuckle.

She is not the typical college dean. Strict. Unrelenting. Dictating.

She listens. She asks. She concedes. She accepts and respects the differing points-of-view of others. (Although she also puts up a fight when she knows she's right -- so I heard).

That is the reason why anybody can just go in her office. Everybody can just butt in during meetings. All can even taste the food she is eating.

...and now  after two terms that she wants to retire from her  position, everybody says NO! that is if they can have their way to changing her decision.

NTTCHP is grateful for having her as dean and is grateful to God for being driven so crazy to many activities because of a dean that kept going.

NatCon Evaluation

I was asked to make a tabulation of the third of the national conference responses to the evaluation form filled out by the participants during the NTTCHP NatCon held last January 29-30, 2015 at the Hotel Jen, Roxas Blvd., Manila and  it made me happy to see honest-to-goodness responses:

"The second day was most appreciated... the first day was not relevant to my work."
"The conference helped me formulate my assessment tool."

"Very cold environment; gave me occasional headache."
"Use high definition PowerPoint slides."
"Observe strict adherence to time."
"I am impressed. I learned a lot!"

It is very encouraging to receive comments and concrete suggestions on how to improve the conference.   The participants really took time to think on what to write in the evaluation form,  not  just to write generic words such as excellent and helpful, or even boring.

With evaluation such as the ones given, there is nowhere to go for the next NTTCHP NatCon but to become better, more comfortable, more engaging and more useful and specific to the needs of the participants.  As to the tabulation of responses, 99% of the respondents checked the strongly agree boxes for the conference's  relevance, achievement of objectives, usefulness, interactivity and effectiveness of AV aids.

Doc Nem's Lecture on Alligning Assessment to OBE

This picture struck me in Dr. Nem's presentation during the NTTCHP 8th NatCon.  I am an educator and a mother to a twelve year old girl who is in the last year of elementary at the UP  Integrated School (UPIS) and reading the dialogue raised a red flag in me.

As a mother , choosing between the two in the cartoon, is difficult. I want my child to be able to learn, but I also want her to pass the test. Though I do not like to be grade conscious, let's face it: my daughter's chances of success will be greatly affected by the numbers written on her report card.

If the outcome-based education will be true to its principles, then I wouldn't worry at all. Outcome-based education assesses what it wants students to be able to demonstrate at the end of every learning experiences. If properly implemented by us teachers, then there's no worry about having students who are learning a lot but not passing the tests nor students who are passing the tests but not learning anything at all.

In OBE students who are learning will definitely pass the tests and the students who pass the test definitely learn.

Monthly Seminar

I had a taste of the monthly seminar given by the NTTCHP last October 27. The topic was about curriculum mapping in outcome-based educaiton and the speaker was Dr. Bong Alviar who is a faculty here in NTTCHP.  There were many attendees, from students to college professors with MAs and PhDs, to nurses and MDs. The whole auditorium was packed.

I chatted with some of the attendees prior to the start of the program and they shared to me how important the seminars in NTTCHP are. They said they need all the training they can get so they can translate new changes in their classrooms and follow CHED directives.   Outcome-based education is the new thing and the Commission on Higher Education in the Philippines has made guidelines for higher learning institutions to follow in the implementation of OBE.  That is the reason why, the Gonzales Hall of UP Manila is packed and overflowed.  On the other hand, the students who also attended said they want to know new trends in education and hope to have a head start before they get officially employed.

With all the good things the attendees said, there is one comment that although it may sound negative, it will help a lot in the improvement of the monthly seminar delivery. One of the professors who attended the seminar tapped  me at the back and asked if she could give a comment. She said that although they appreciate all the learning they are getting from NTTCHP,  they are getting information over load and are longing for some help in the processing and application of the knowledge learned.

Good point and  valid request!

Gawad Chancellor

On the 21st of October, the dean asked us all from the college to go to the UP Manila Social Hall for the awarding ceremony of one of our professors, Dr. Jesus N. Sarol Jr. for the Gawad Chancellor Award in Outstanding Research.  The pride of joining the group was unexplainable, for a lot many of reasons circling my mind. Having to work with an outstanding researcher is one big thing and  his accomplishment inspires me personally to  pursue excellence and continue to pursue knowledge that will help others as well.

The Gawad Chancellor ceremony was graced by Dr. Nelia Cortes-Maramba, the "Mother of Philippine Herbal Medicine" and the founding member of the National Integrated Research Program  on Medicinal Plants who gave the 6th Florentino B. Herrera Jr Lecture.  A lot of people in the pharmaceutical company know her for her lagundi research. It is my personal belief that it was not Dr. Maramba who discovered the effectiveness of herbal medicine in the country. Herbal plants have always been used by our local herbolarios. When  I  was young in the rural town of Mangatarem in the province of Pangasinan, I have  come to know   which plants are good for headache, cuts and scrapes, toothache, and others. My parents did not give me tablets or capsules immediately, but used herbal medicines to address my needs. Only when  things became relatively uncontrollable that we went to seek the help of herbolarios or doctors. But thanks to Dr. Maramba and her team's research, all are scientifically confirmed and the production as well as distribution of such medicine are now done commercially.

Here's a picture of the NTTCHP people with Dr.Maramba:

In the picture are the people I am journeying with. From left in black is Tonette our staff in LRU; next in blue are Ate Marcy our most senior at NTTCHP with 38 years of service in the institution, Mandy the AVR Supervisor and Mam Bheng the designated librarian; in the middle in black pants with ID is our Dean Erlyn A. Sana who stands next to Dr. Maramba, Dr. Sarol our awardee and Dr. Melflor one of the few but carefully chosen professors of NTTCHP; then there is me and Claire in blue who is now counting twelve years as research associate.  I do not exactly know who the  guy in blue polo at the back is, but from the exchanges of conversation, I think he is a close friend, if not the best friend of Dr.Sarol's.