Message from the President
Date Posted: June 30, 2020 at 09:57 AM
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the world to its knees.
It has induced widespread fear, upended lives, shook our sense of normalcy, and disrupted life as we knew it.
One of the most severely affected sectors is education. The series of lockdowns imposed by governments to protect their citizens against the virus has hampered the learning that takes place in schools.
Following the guidelines of government education agencies, Adamson University adopts a Flexible Learning Program that guarantees continuing quality education for its students while safeguarding the health and safety of the whole Adamson community.
We have adopted the new Blackboard Learn Ultra, a Learning Management System (LMS) with simple yet powerful features that would provide students with a comprehensive learning experience. We have likewise adopted Schoology for the Basic Education Department (BED). Moreover, we have started training all faculty members and administrators to facilitate the transition from the traditional face-to-face classroom interactions to flexible online engagements with students. A major feature of the training is the preparation of modules that would focus on the optimal acquisition of learning outcomes. We have re-evaluated and beefed up the library and other digital instructional resources to complement online instruction.
Our topmost priority is to ensure that our students have a fair chance at learning. We understand that financial considerations weigh heavily on the decision of families whether or not to continue sending their children to school. Thus, we have decided to significantly decrease miscellaneous fees and to not implement a tuition fee increase in the next school year. In addition, Blackboard Learn Ultra is completely free of charge for college students this SY 2020-2021.
Internet connectivity and laptops are essential elements for off-site learning, but we are well aware of the reality that not every student has the means to procure these. In our efforts to guarantee that our college students have equal access to this new mode of learning, we shall provide them with free regular monthly data support for the 1st Semester of SY 2020-2021. We shall also facilitate the acquisition of laptops for both our faculty members and students on an easy installment arrangement.
Not only are college programs heavily dependent on the constant and timely delivery of lectures and outputs, but also demand higher financial obligations than their basic education counterparts. Hence, the use of Blackboard Learn Ultra at no cost for the incoming school year and the monthly data support for the 1st Semester would prove to be invaluable in what we aspire to be a smooth and economical transition to the Flexible Learning Program
Ensuring the continuity of the learning process is challenging enough under normal circumstances, but the COVID-19 pandemic makes this task even more daunting. We assure our students of steady access to online communication and consultation with their professors, advisers, and counsellors while they are at home and in person when face-to-face interactions are already permissible. We believe in the value of the old Latin dictum, “Mens sana in corpore sano”--- “A healthy mind in a healthy body”.
We have set up the Center for Innovative Learning to expedite the structural and systemic modifications demanded by the country’s rapidly changing educational landscape. We have initiated the redesigning of the campus so that it can optimally operationalize starting the 1st Semester of School Year 2020-2021 when classes will be done entirely online, and the transition to the blended learning mode when it becomes possible in the 2nd semester. In time, we shall assess these modifications to see how they can guide our future directions.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented disruption in education that forces us to re-examine existing presuppositions and priorities and consequently, to recalibrate the allocation of resources. It compels us to reflect on what is truly valuable in these uncertain times. It challenges us to stand firm and steadfast by the mission which we vow to bear.
In the case of Adamson University, it is our mission to provide quality education for everyone, particularly the socially disadvantaged--- quality education that makes for responsible students, conscientious citizens, and compassionate human beings.
We call on everyone in the Adamson community to come together, pull our resources together, and engage in collective action to make this happen.
