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.

Outcome-Based Education (OBE)

Would you be comfortable treated by a  new graduate or newly licensed individual in the health professions, e.g. dentist, nurse or even a doctor? I bet, like me, you  will also have your reservations.  Why?

"Baka pagpraktisan lang ako."

You will have reservations because you might think that he or she will just practice on you.  You are not sure whether the person is already capable, let alone competent, to handle the necessary procedure/s.

Sad but true. There is a gap between what the schools are teaching and what they are supposed to be producing.  Numerous  studies show that health professions graduates do not have the work skills needed to perform the requisites of their profession.

With the implementation of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) in the Philippines there is hope.

OBE is a term coined by Spady in 1994 which "...refers to clearly focusing and organizing everything in the education system around what is essential for all students to be able to do successfully at the end of their learning experiences. This means starting with a clear picture of what is important for students to be able to do, then organising the curriculum, instruction and assessment to make sure that learning ultimately happens”.

OBE is the kind of instruction and curriculum design used in Europe and America since the 1990s. The awakening of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) may be late in the Philippines but I am glad the time has come to really focus on what ought to be done in the worsening quality of graduates in the country.

In OBE, higher education institutions must first have a clear picture of the competencies should their graduates have when they actually get into the workplace. From there, they will have to design the curriculum and teaching strategies in order to get to where they want their students to be. Students under the OBE will be learning the actual skills and competencies they need in order to perform the job they are training to become.