College of Arts and Sciences

In recognizing the vital role of its faculty members, the College of Arts and Sciences held its annual Faculty Conference on September 4-6, 2019 at the Eugenio Lopez Center in Antipolo, Rizal. The conference theme, “Enhancing Quality Education of UP Manila Students”, was very appropriate and relevant. In an effort to successfully meet this challenge, the faculty members would strive to meet the following objectives and goals of the conference:

1. Assess student and faculty satisfaction with the content and implementation of 10 revised CAS undergraduate programs.
2. To institutionalize the incorporation of outcome based and modern teaching and learning approaches in the conduct of all undergraduate subjects as reflected in course syllabi.

During the first day of the conference, Asso. Prof. Maria Constancia Carrillo, provided an overview of the three-day conference workshop. The participants were given updates on infrastructure work at CAS by Arch. Rosalie Flores-Bernardo of the Campus Planning, Development and Maintenace Office (CPDMO), UP Manila. They were given a glimpse of what the College and its classrooms would look like after the renovation and upgrading of its facilities through a video presentation. Dr. Alyssa Alampay, Asst. Vice President for Academic Affairs for Quality Assurance discussed comprehensively on Quality Assurance(QA) and its Role in UP System. Dr. Nymia Simbulan talked on UP Manila QA Plan, while Dr. Erlyn Sana spoke on Building a QA Culture in Academic Programs. The current status of QA at CAS and implementing its QA plan was discussed by Dr. Edanjardo Marquez, Chair, CAS QA Committee.

Highlights of the 2nd day included a lecture on Constructing an Outcome-Based (OBE) Syllabus by Dr. Melflor Atienza. She emphasized the importance of adapting teaching methods that would best meet the intended learning goals and student learning outcomes of UP Manila students, through development and utilization of an OBE syllabus.

Prof. Ciara Lim and Mr. Ralph Maestre of the Department of Physical Sciences and Mathematics (DPSM), shared their experiences in incorporating new teaching tools and approaches in undergraduate courses, while Dr. Gina Salazar and Dr. Celestina Boncan of the Departments of Social Sciences (DSS) and Arts and Communication, respectively, also shared their experiences on the importance of an OBE syllabus for undergraduate courses.

Workshops on QA and OBE Construction followed the lectures. Faculty representatives of each department/course program reported the results of their group discussions (FGD’s).

On the last day of the conference, Dr. Carrillo presented a report on the results of the survey on “Student Evaluation of First Year Academic Performance in the Revised Undergraduate Program Curricula.” The faculty members were also asked to give their inputs as faculty on how do they evaluate the students and their performance in the first year implementation of the revised undergraduate program curricula. 120 CAS faculty members participated in this annual conference conducted by the College.