ATESEA holds series of webinar on designing degree programs
Amid the upsurge of COVID-19, ATESEA held a series of webinars as an alternative mode of providing continuing services to address the expressed needs and challenges of theological institutions. The first webinar, “Designing Degree Programs for Theological Studies,” that marked a historical milestone held on July 21-24, 2020 was attended by forty-five (45) member schools from Hong Kong, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Taiwan, respectively.
Dr. Greg Pawilen, the webinar’s resource person, discussed important principles and methods in Designing Curriculum for Higher Education and Designing Undergraduate Programs with special reference to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Qualification Reference Framework (AQRF ) on the first day of the webinar. On the second and third day, he guided participants towards Designing the Master’s and Doctoral Degree Programs that would be helpful in curriculum development in their respective seminaries. Dr. Pawilen, who is frequently invited by ATESEA as resource speaker, holds a degree in Doctor of Philosophy in Education, major in Curriculum Studies, and is presently an Associate Professor of the College of Human Ecology in the University of the Philippines Los Baños.
Dr. Lester Edwin Ruiz, Director of Accreditation and Global Engagement of the Association of Theological Schools in the US and Canada (ATS) was also present in the event. He provided important and helpful inputs on understanding Higher Education from the ATS’ perspectives and their context.
During the afternoon sessions, the participants gathered for group workshop in the breakout rooms. On the first day, they were initially grouped according to their countries of origin and were tasked to reexamine their respective baccalaureate degree programs. In the succeeding days, the attendees were placed in mixed groups to review the Master’s and Doctoral degree programs respectively. The afternoon conversations provided an avenue for the group members to share best practices and understand each other’s academic issues.
With the unexpected outbreak of the global pandemic, educational institutions are being challenged to evaluate the relevance of their academic programs in order to address the current and future world situation. The webinar became a platform for deliberations as the school heads were encouraged to reflect and understand the needs and requisites of their various stakeholders, i.e. global/ national issues, government, accrediting agencies, society, church/ denomination, and students. In light of this, the online gathering was significant for the participants saw the need to revisit their curricula and re-align their programs with the school’s mission and vision, present strengths and weaknesses, and future goals. They recognized the necessity of moving towards competency-based standards of AQRF in order to be academically apposite in the new normal the world is currently facing. The discussions proved beneficial in the preparation of the schools for accreditation of their respective degree programs. Moreover, the webinar had fortified the networking among the member schools and partner institutions like ATS, as it has become a venue of fellowship and scholarly collaboration. The member schools deeply value ATESEA’s efforts in organizing this technological milestone and look forward to more online learnings and workshops which will propel theological education to a higher level.
